


Age of Aquarius (Arc I)

by The_Elephant_in_the_Pride_Parade



Series: Sailor Moon T: The TEitPPverse [4]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Aino Minako's sister, F/F, F/M, Gen, Minor OC - Freeform, Multi, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Sailor Pluto is from Gallifrey, Silver Millennium Era, idk what else to put here, will tag as needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-05-30 21:51:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 198,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6442309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Elephant_in_the_Pride_Parade/pseuds/The_Elephant_in_the_Pride_Parade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Companion to "Pax Lunae" and direct sequel to the canon "Sailor Stars." This is Sailor Moon Season 6!. The Scouts are out of high school and have enjoyed more than a year and a half of normalcy. But As the Age of Pisces transitions into Aquarius, all of that will change. An enemy that has not been seen since the time of the Primordial sailors makes its way into the universe again, with its sight set on the light of Sol. In order to defeat it, the scouts will need to unlock a level of control over their powers previously lost to them - and to do that they must somehow unlock the complete memories of their first lives. Along the way they will face many enemies - not all of them alien, and shall discover the Silver Millennium was not the utopia it is fabled to be. And this is only half the battle - there is still the universe's most ancient evil (older even than Chaos) to consider. This is a journey you won't want to miss!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Night Falls on Pisces

**Night Falls On Pisces**

**Kunzite:** The guys want to wish you good luck at dinner tonight. Also want to check: the cat videos on the Youtube are not Youma?

Mamoru rolled his eyes as he read the text. Trust Kunzite to text him at dinner. Even two years back among the living had not helped his knights regain all of their social etiquette. And the internet...he made a mental note to change his computer's password.

**HRH Endymion:** They’re cat videos. Pure human invention. Thnx. Have to go. can’t text at the

“What have I said about phones at my table” Ikuko’s voice made Mamoru jump as his phone clattered from his hand.  He turned to the Tsukino matriarch, apology ready. But she has her eyes fixed on Chibiusa across the table, clutching her cell phone close even as Kenji reached to take it.

“By Ikuko-mama!” Chibiusa begged from across the table, her pink sequined phone held close. “It’s _Hotaru_.”

“And I’m sure Hotaru has dinner to get back to as well,” Ikuko retorted. “No texting at family dinner.”

“But Mamoru-papa can-” His future daughter yelped and glared at Usako who was beside him...and had likely kicked Chibiusa in the shins.

“Mamo-chan doesn’t text at the table _Chibius,a_ ” Usako admonished. She clasped his hand in hers as he glanced under the table to check that his phone was not anywhere Ikuko could see it.

“Of course he doesn’t” Ikuko scoffed. “Mamoru is gentleman.”

“You’re ah, too kind.” He chuckled as he carefully covered his phone with his shoe. “It would be nice if you put your phone away Chibiusa... Why don’t you text Hotaru that you have to leave it.”

Chibiusa pouted. “Yes Papa,” she muttered

 **Chibiusa:** They’re making me put my phone away. I hope it goes ok  <3

 **Hotaru:** Thnx… but it’s going exactly how we thought it'd go. :/

She carefully slipped her phone back into her pocket and returned to picking at her food. Papa and Mama-Suna hadn’t even noticed her take it out.

“All I’m suggesting,” Mama-Suna was saying, “is that Hotaru has built a life in the Juuban school class. She has Chibiusa with her there. They have many friends in their grade. I’m not suggesting she spend less time with you.”

“It sounds like you are,” Souichi Tomoe observed. “Hotaru also attended Mugen from when she was 7 years old onwards. It’s been re-built exactly as it was. It’ll be familiar to her. The curriculum is far better than Juuban’s.”

“I like Juuban” Hotaru butted in. Her father’d developed a habit of talking to Setsuna about her as though she wasn’t there. “I’m getting good marks there. I have friends – I never had friends at Mugen.”

“I-I know, Hotaru. Alright? But I don’t live near Juuban’s schools. In fact we’ll be moving into an apartment above the new Mugen building. I can of course take you to school in Juuban if you like but,”

“But I could also bring her to and from school,” Setsuna interrupted. “Mr. Tomoe, I work as the school nurse at Juuban – I would be more than happy to.”

“That’s far out of your way,” Souichi scoffed. “Like as not, she’d end up late to class with the time it takes to travel between that district and mine.”

Hotaru traded a look with Mama-Suna. _Please remind him you can time-travel_ , she thought.

But Mama-Suna just bit her lip. Unwilling as usual, to remind Hotaru’s father about the Sailor Scout thing. _He’s still trying to get his life back to normal, Hotaru_ , Setsuna’d reminded her just a month ago. _It’s hard for him to remember that normal is not anything he’s used to now._

“Even so, we would work it out,” Mama-Suna continued. “I fully support your right to send your daughter to whatever school-”

“Exactly,” Souichi whispered, readjusting his glasses. “She’s my daughter. I’ve been wanting her to move back home for over a year now, but I left it because the school year had to finish out.” He sighed and looked at Hotaru. “I want you to go to whatever school you’re happiest at, Hotaru. But I worry. I’m sorry, but I do. What if you remain at Juuban: close to your friends, close to Ms. Meioh’s apartment... and suddenly you’re staying over there on school nights because it is closer, or you’ll let your friends at Juuban distract you from your studies?

“I have the best teachers in Japan on Mugen’s payroll now. The new building is amazing. I promise you will make new friends there, and I certainly won’t keep you from Chibiusa or your other friends.” He said with a glance at Setsuna. “But this scout business... you need more than that in your life Hotaru.”

Just then Setsuna’s phone buzzed and she saw Mama glance at it and smile slightly before the serious look returned to her face. “The school issue will be Hotaru’s choice... But scout training will still do her good. I think it’d be best if she stayed at least every other weekend at the penthouse.”

“Every weekend,” Hotaru added, catching a glimpse at Setsuna’s text messages.

 **Ruka** : Dont let him boss you around Suna Hotaru wants to stay with you too

 **Michi:** There's tea when you get home. Or whiskey. Or both. ;)

Michiru swipes her thumb across the screen of her phone, dismissing the new text from one of the flutists in the Tokyo Orchestra and tapping her nail repeatedly on the screen. But no return text came from Suna.

She looked up as Ruka’s foot tapped against hers. Ruka was staring at her over the pages of her book, smiling. “That won’t make her respond faster,” Ruka said. But even so, the blond stretched out to grab her own phone off the coffee table. No new texts. She tossed it onto the couch between them. “She’s probably not checking them during dinner,” Ruka reasoned.

“I know,” Michiru sighed and leaned back into the couch. “I’m just nervous - you know how she gets.”

“You mean, caving to whatever Tomoe wants because she has no legal claim to Hotaru.” Ruka said, flicking another page in her book roughly. “Forget that we’ve raised her for... is it three years yet?”

“Two and a half,” Michiru supplied. “And it’s not as though he wouldn’t let her spend time here.”

“Not enough time,” Ruka countered. “Why does she have to live with her father again?”

“It’ll be good for both of them,” Michiru said. “Even if it’s not so good for Setsuna.”

“She’s her mom,” Haruka insisted. “I just don’t understand why we can’t share her more evenly… You’d think Tomoe would be more sympathetic.”

“Are you worried about her?” Michiru whispered, watching the moonlight from the window glance of Ruka’s messy hair. The blond shook her head.

“Not worried exactly – but you’ve seen how lonely she can be... even while staying with us. I can’t help feeling like Hotaru moving out will make her even more isolate.”

“I mean it must be hard: living with a couple,” Michiru said, “If we don’t want her to feel lonely perhaps we should ask if she would rather move in with someone else…”

“No!” Ruka sputtered. “Won’t that defeat the whole purpose?”

“It could work well,” Michiru insisted. “Setsuna wouldn’t feel like the odd one out... If she’s not hanging out with us so much she might meet someone. She could start her own family. I could make out with you wherever I want and you wouldn’t worry that we were anywhere she might catch us.”

Haruka blushed, “I do want her to be happy – I do. But... I like having her here. Is that selfish?"

Before Michiru could respond though, Haruka’s phone did it for her. The blond lauched forwards to grab it off the coffee table and swiped her thumb across the screen, pulling up the messages. “Just Mina,” she muttered, squinting as she typed a response.

 **Aino** : R we still on for 2morrow @ 7?

 **“Haruka Kanata” AKG:** Yeah if you can keep up

 **“Haruka Kanata” AKG:** Why cant get up early enough

 **Aino** : No. Not that. I’ll b there. Count on it.

Minako shut the door to her room (having left dinner early) and flopped down on the bed, rolling away from Artemis, who’s gone ahead and hogged the whole pillow. Running with Ruka tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough. Anything to get her mind off the acting career that – with the excuse of high school gone – her mother was quite anxious to restart.

 _Can I not just spend time with Rei like a normal stud – young adult_. Mina frowned; this being out of school business kept tripping her up at the oddest times.

Idly her fingers wandered through her recent texts and opened up a new window for the contact name very close to the top.

 **Minako <3**: Hey. <3 <3 <3

 **“Route Venus”** : Hey yourself.

 **Minako <3**: How r you...

 **“Route Venus”** : Just finishing tea. Wanna come over later ;)

 **Minako <3**:...Any time Bae. <3

Rei smiled at her phone and was picking it up to text back when Makoto leaned over her shoulder and plucked it away.

"Is that the guy?"

“Uh…” Rei stammered as Makoto dangled the phone out to her.

“Hey, no worries. I haven’t told your grandpa that you’re sneaking someone in every night.” Makoto shook her head. “But I am across the hall… you could tone it down. I gotta say he’s very high pitched for a dude.” Makoto chuckled as Rei’s face turns a progressively deeper shade of red. Just then the phone buzzed in her hand and Makoto glanced down at it. She froze.

“Rei... this is from Mina…” Rei ducked her head as Makoto’s eyes widened and she stared at Rei. “You... and...Oh my god! How long...Why didn’t the two of you tell us!” Makoto exclaimed as she looked around for her own phone. “I... I need to tell Ami.”

 **Kino, Makoto** : OMG U ARE NOT GOING 2 BELIEVE THIS!!!!!!!

 **Kino, Makoto:** Ami? Oh COME ON, why do u have 2 b studying NOW!!!!

 **Ami:** What am I not going to believe?

Ami turned the phone on silent and directed her attention back to her computer screen, blinking away fatigue as she tried to sort through the organic chemistry notes she’d typed up in class.

Something chimed. She glanced around, but it wasn’t her phone. A chat icon was flashing in the corner of her screen. Curious (she’d only set this account up for University in the past few days, she opened it up).

 **Otaku &proud007**: Hey. It's Daiki from Programming Class. Think I could run this by you?

 **Athena-MA95** : Of course. Send it over.

 **Otaku &proud007**: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sngeJKctWHTtigwqMKSogutQR/edit>

Thanks... hey you wouldn’t want to go for coffee some time as well?

Ami blinked at the computer. unsure how to respond. To say maybe? What to do?

Did she like him?

 _Does it matter? I’m tired of always being the single one_.

 **Athena-MA95** :Sure. This weekend good for you?

Suddenly the computer froze. Ami lifted her hands as the backlit keyboard dimmed and the lights around her room flickered.

 _A brown out_? she thought waiting until the lights and the computer returned to normal. As she went to type another message to Daiki, a tingling feeling jumped from the fingers she’d set on the keys.  It spread through her palms and left goosebumps along her arms. She pulled her hands away again, rubbing them together until the feeling dissipated.

 _Could that be some dark force?_ she wondered as she picked up her communicator to check in with Luna and Artemis.

 _Better do a scan from the command center to be safe,_ she thought. _Though I’m probably just paranoid._

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Out in the Kuiper asteroid belt, where Sol’s light barely touched, bits of ice and rock were suddenly sucked out of space in a vortex shape, disappearing from the belt.  As they winked out of existence, some debris warped away from the vortex, pushed aside by a shadow breaching the tear.  It shrieked as the weak rays of Sol’s light blistered across its skin and bolted for the nearest asteroid, coiling up on the dark side of the rock.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Usagi!” Makoto shouted from across the store. But even she couldn’t get down from the ladder in time to catch the clumsy Moon Princess. Around the shop, she and the others watched as the two blond ponytails flew up in the air, their owner slipping on the just-moped floor and shouting as she tripped backwards, thudding against the tiles while a cloud of flour engulfed the sales counter.

“Usako!” Mamoru rushed out of the kitchen and skidded to a halt in front of the fallen princess.  Chibiusa left the window cleaner on the floor as she dashed to the counter, Makoto and the four Shittenou warriors following her.  They all peered over to see.

“Oh don’t say it,” the powder covered Moon Princess sighed, picking herself up out of the mess of flour. “I’ll go get the mop,” she grumbled, dusting flour off her arms.

“I could do it,” Nephrite offered.

“No!” Usagi glared at him. “Don’t you dare. I’m going to help, and I’m going to mop the floor.”

“Uh…okay.”

Makoto nodded at Nephrite, seeing that Mamoru was doing the same. “Okay, I-I mean yes, Princess.”

“Don’t call her that,” Chibiusa, Makoto, and Mamoru all chorused before Usagi could say it herself.  The blond smiled as she dusted more flour from her hair.

“I’m still confused,” Jadeite said as he flicked a bit of flour that’d landed on the countertop. “Princess is how we express our respect... you don’t like being called Princess?”

“No!” Usagi shook her head, more flour flying around the room as she glanced at Mamoru. “Do they call you Prince?”

“Uh,” Mamoru scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, but I’ve told them it’s just Mamoru.”

“And yet you let us continue to call you that.” Kunzite said, smirking and dodging as Zoicite elbowed him. “I think he likes the title.”

“He does,” Chibiusa nodded. “Papa used to tell me that in the past, it reminded him he was actually going to be King, and it made him feel important.”

“Oooh,” Usagi whirled around to look at The Shitenou’s grinning faces and then Mamoru blushing from neck to ears. “Really? Mamo-chan needs to boost his ego.”

“They don’t call me Prince all the time,” he grumbled. “And I am a prince...I’m not full of myself, Usako.”

“Whatever you say ‘Your Highness,’” Usagi said, winking at him.

“Ewww,” Chibiusa pushed away from the counter and backed up towards the shop windows. “This is the point where I leave.” and Makoto couldn’t help joining in the laughter as Usagi and Mamoru realized what her teasing must sound like to Chibiusa.

“Laugh all you want,” Usagi huffed. “But no, I don’t like being called Princess.  I’m just Usagi. I’m graduated from high school, finally. And I’m not hiding secret identities from my parents. And the world doesn’t need me to be Queen yet,” she cheered. “And I’m going to be a shop girl just like any other girl, and I get to do it while helping Makoto make her dreams come true, right Mako-chan?”

Makoto laughed and reached into her pocket for her handkerchief, handing it over for Usagi to wipe the last bit of flour from her nose. “Of course you are, I can’t think of anyone better to help me run this bakery.” She glared at Nephrite when he raised an eyebrow at her. “But – just so we’re still clear – I do all the cooking.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”  Usagi waved a hand at her. “We know how this works: you get to work in the kitchen, and Mina and I stay out here and run the counter, and we get to eat whatever’s left over at the end of the day.”

“Hopefully that won’t be much,” Makoto said. “And thank you guys for coming out to help me set up.”

“Any time Mako,” Nephrite bowed to her. “We’re happy to serve.”

“Oh, here he goes again,” Zoicite rolled his eyes. “Quit it with the flirting would you?”

Makoto ducked her head to hide the blush on her face. “Anyways...where’s Mina? I thought she was supposed to be here today?”

“She’s still coming,” Usagi said, picking up her phone from the countertop. “She had to run an errand for her parents.”

“Oh, then tell her to take her time,” Makoto assured her. “Is she doing alright with them?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Kunzite glanced at all of them.

“They haven’t been taking the Sailor Venus thing as well as she hoped,” Chibiusa sighed.

 **“Moon Pride”-Momoiro:** Hey are you almost done? :) :) :)

 **Mina** : Oh no its that late? Yeah they R  wrapping up here.  20 min.

Minako tuned her ears to the sound of her mother arguing with the director… her acting wasn’t up to par clearly, from the way they’re arguing.  Which was fair. Her heart was as far as it’d ever been from these silly commercials and shows.  She caught the voice of the director saying they might cast her in a non-speaking role, but only if she could keep her looks up.

 _Oh so now that’s all I’m good for_. Minako huffed as she pushed away from the wall and headed towards the exit. _Screw this_.

 **Mina:** Whats up <3

 **“Route Venus”** : Finishing up the scans.

 **Mina** : Anything?

 **“Route Venus”** : No, clean through the Kuiper orbit...still worried though.

 **Mina** : U have another dream?

 **“Route Venus”** : Not yet...I’ve got a feeling though. Probably have visions tonight.

 **Mina** : U...want me there this time?

 **“Route Venus”** : Kind of… but don’t your parents have another audition planned tomorrow? You need your sleep.

“Is that Mina?” Ami asked as she typed another precise code into the super computer.  No... not even Hubble was picking anything up.

“Yeah,” Rei said, smiling at the phone. “She just wants to know if we found anything.”

“Not just yet.” Luna said, jumping up onto the console of the Super Computer. She tapped a button with her paw and a screen overhead flickered on with Pluto’s face looking back at them. “No unusual activity detected in the present.”

 _“Nothing on my end either,_ ” Pluto’s voice filtered through. “But the future is looking a little glitchy... I can’t isolate the disturbance quite yet.”

“So we can’t find whatever this might be until it makes another move?” Ami sighed.

“Damnit,” Rei cursed

 _“My thoughts exactly...I’ll keep looking,”_ Pluto said, signing off.

Pluto sighed and directed her attention once more to the depths of the Time Dimension. The swirling sands and fog were more active than usual today. Or perhaps had been for a while. She berated herself that she hadn’t come back to look sooner.

It was sometime later that she felt a time key open the doors from linear time.

“You know you’ve been here for four days right?” Haruka chastened as she burst through the time doors. “Christ, Pluto. This isn’t healthy. Have you eaten?”

“I have no need of mortal essentials here.” Pluto said, continuing to gaze out into the fog. “I am completely removed from the passage of time here. Thus, those needs are nullified.”

“Riiight,” Haruka said, her tone suggesting she didn’t believe Setsuna for a minute. “Well humor us. You deserve a break you know. And it’s about lunch time on our end.”

“I would feel better staying,” Pluto whispered.

“Hey,” Haruka put her hand over Pluto’s where they held the Garnet Rod and walked around in front of her. She was frowning. “Haven’t heard you talk like this in a while – you stop in at least once a week to look at this place. What makes you think you have to stay here so much?”

Pluto gave her a very small smile. One that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “I have a different duty than you...I have been shirking it too long.”

“Haruka,” Michiru’s voice crackled through Haruka’s communicator. “Have you convinced Suna to come home yet?”

“Working on it,” Haruka said into the communicator. Pluto raised her eyebrows at her, but was unprepared for Haruka’s wide, dark blue eyes as she directed them back towards Pluto, staring at her with the intense gaze Michiru sometimes termed her “smolder”. “Come home. Eat lunch with us. It has been _days_. We miss you. I bet Hotaru misses you.”

“She’s with her father today,” Setsuna said. “And anyways. It’s her first day at school. She’s going to be too busy to miss me.”

“About that,” Michiru’s voice came through the communicator again. “There was an incident at Mugen. I’m taking her home.”

“I’m all right!” They heard Hotaru interrupt through her own communicator. Pluto and Haruka traded a confused glance.

“We’ll be right there,” Pluto told them.

 _Thank goodness_ , Michiru said as she shot a glance at Hotaru. They’re now equivalent-of-an-eleven-year-old was pouting in the passenger seat of the Porsche. Michiru’d gotten the call from Souichi Tomoe just a half hour ago. Hotaru’d blacked out at school. They assumed she’d had a flashback of some sort. Tomoe had wanted to take her home to rest, but Michiru guessed from his defeated tone that Hotaru must have begged to have the Senshi pick her up instead. When she’d arrived at the school, the nurse had been lecturing Hotaru who’d wandered out to the front steps to wait. She imagined Tomoe had retreated to his office to sulk just as Hotaru was now.

“Did you have to tell them that?” Hotaru complained. “I’m _fine_.”

“Well I figured it would speed up the process of getting Setsuna to come home,” Michiru sighed. “I am sorry – but they would have found out when I brought you around for lunch anyways.”

Hotaru huffed, though she looked away from the rolled-down window of the car and over to Michiru. “Do I really have to go to school there every day now?”

“You don’t have to,” Michiru said. “It’s not to late to enroll you back in Juuban middle school. I could do it today, in fact.”

“I want you to,” Hotaru sighed. “But Papa will be sad.”

Michiru shot her a sad smile. “It’s lovely that you consider his side Hotaru, but it’s a little concerning that just being back in the building is enough to cause an attack like this.”

“It wasn’t the building,” Hotaru said. “I mean it looks different enough from the old one that I hardly noticed it.” She sighed. “Some of my old classmates are back. _And_ they’re older than me now.”

 _Oh dear_ , Michiru thought. She remembered that Hotaru hadn’t had many friends at the old Mugen Academy. She tightened her hands on the wheel. “And.”

“It was nothing at first,” Hotaru sighed. “They used to tease me. And they saw me in the hall and started up again – especially when they thought I’d been held back two grades.”

“You could have been sick,” Michiru muttered. “The absolute _nerve_ ,”

“It’s okay.” Hotaru said. “It didn’t bother me too much at first. Except…one of them showed up late. And she still had the black star on her uniform. She… I used to hate her at school cause she looked kinda like Kaorinite. And I thought she really _was_ for a second.

“Oh Sweet Pea,” Michiru murmured.

“I don’t know why it affected me so much,” Hotaru complained, shivering. “And then while I was out…I had a vision.”

Michiru stiffened. It had been two whole years since the last one. She’d started to hope they wouldn’t have another fight until it was time for Crystal Tokyo. “Of what.”

Hotaru was very quiet for a while. Then said: “pull over.”

Michiru did, guiding the car quickly to the side of the road. She threw it into park and turned to look at Hotaru.

Her daughter brought both hands up in front of her, and a hologram appeared between them. Michiru recognized the solar system from the lightning that danced beneath the surface of Jupiter’s clouds. But it was so dark. She squinted at it, and as Hotaru moved her hands around the hologram she noticed the outlines of the other planets.

And as she watched them drift, she noticed something odd about the orbits. Rather than moving in their determined cycles, the planets were moving in straight lines, drifting farther and farther from each other. She saw Earth and Mars drift into Jupiter’s vast gravitational field and pull back in, circling around it even as the faintly orange shape of Venus vanished from view.

“Where’s the sun?” she breathed.

“It wasn’t there.” Hotaru shivered. “It didn’t die and it wasn’t hidden or anything. It had just.”

“Disappeared,” they whispered together. Hotaru let the hologram fade.

“What’s it mean?” she asked.

Michiru closer her eyes and took a deep breath of the sea air to clear her head. “We’ll find out – but lets find out after lunch.” She said.

She couldn’t do anything about a hypothetical doomsday on her own regardless.

But she could comfort her daughter.

Hotaru didn’t comment as Michiru pulled back onto the road and floored it. The Porsche sped down the highway towards Juuban and their favorite restaurant. Michiru’s hands were tight on the wheel. She hoped Haruka and Setsuna would beat them there. She suddenly needed to see the two of them more than she needed to breathe.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The shadow could feel the bright light of the star as it approached the orbit of the most distant planet. The object itself wasn’t anywhere within view as the shadow approached the orbital path. It could feel the residual planet power there. Disgusting. It slowed the asteroid as it approached, prepared for a barrier.

But there was nothing in its path. It rejoiced! Then the Guardian was in their mortal form. Perfect. Its form glowed briefly lavender as a seed of darkness broke away from it, racing along the orbital path towards the distant planet.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“A scout meeting?” Ami’s mother said as she helped Ami unpack her books into her new studio apartment in the University’s student housing.

Ami made a confirmatory sound as she crawled out from under the desk and fixed her hair. Computer successfully hooked up. “Hotaru had some sort of vision. It’s probably nothing,” She assured her mother. “Like that Daimon last year.”

“That didn’t exactly seem like nothing,” Saeko Mizuno said with her eyebrows raised. The Daimon had taken out half the city’s power supply after all.

“I mean nothing against what we dealt with before, you know.”

“Two years ago,” Saeko sighed and startled Ami as she moved to hug her. She was shorter now. She stood on tip toe to rest her chin atop her daughter’s shoulder. “I don’t like the thought of you in battle.” She worried.

“That’s because you never knew I was a Sailor while there were enemies around,” Ami said, hugging her mother closer. “It’ll be fine, whatever it is.”

“hmm,” Saeko said.

“And it won’t interfere with school – I promise.”

At this her mother chuckled and pulled away, reaching up to straighten Ami’s hair. “Why ever would you think I’d be bothered about that?”

“I,” Ami shook her head and smiled. “I didn’t think you would be, but some of my friends parents worry about their real lives.”

“But they fight evil!” Saeko burst out as Ami’s phone buzzed. “Who could ever have a problem with that?”

“I don’t know,” Ami shrugged as she glanced down at a text from someone whose parents certainly _did_ seem to have a problem. It was a group message.

**Aino, Minako: I PASSED**

**“Bleach” – SNoW: That’s excellent, Mina! We knew you would.**

**“Moon Pride” – Momoiro: Yay!!!!!!!!!!!! :D**

**“Moon Pride” – Momoiro: lol. But Ami you said she wouldn't pass the other day. >.<**

**Mina <3: WHAAAAAAAAATTTT**

**Rei: Smooth. Move. Bun Head.**

**“Bleach” – SNoW: That’s not true! I said the test was really quite hard! I had complete faith in you, Mina-chan.**

**“Tightrope” – Monae: You passed – thats wut counts. What r u gonna do bout a car?**

**Mina: WELLLL. Funny u should ask. Haruka-chan said I could use the Ferrari! Right Haruka-chan?**

**“Haruka Kanata” – AKG: What ever happened to Haruka-sensei?**

**“Haruka Kanata” –AKG: Kidding. Good job kid. And u can have the OLD Ferrari.**

**Aino: THANK YOU!!!!!**

“Yes, yes yes!” Minako said, pumping her fists as she jumped up and down on the sidewalk. “Ferrariiiiiiiii!” she cheered.

“Watch the tail,” Artemis complained, though he was smiling. “And I knew you could do it.”

“Even when I hit the fire hydrant last week?”

“Well,” Artemis glanced around. “I still had faith.”

As they were talking, Mina’s phone blasted out another song that Artemis knew all too well by now. The joyous look disappeared from Mina’s face as she answered.

“Mum… yeah. Yeah. Hey, by the way I passed… yeah. First try. Thanks… wait, no I have plans tonight. It’s a Sen…I meeting my friends okay! I can’t do another… no. This is importa – yes. Yes. Uh huh. Uh huh. I know. _I know_.” She sighed. “I can’t leave early I’m the… look. I know it’s important. I’ll be there tomorrow morning – Yes, I promise.”

She pulled the phone away from her ear slowly and tapped the screen before stuffing it into her pocket. She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Hey,” Artemis slowed down and tried to catch her eye, but she was resolutely starring at her shoes. He stopped, let her pass him, and then jumped up onto her shoulders.

When she didn’t react, Artemis brushed his face against her cheek and purred, reaching around with his tail to flick her on the nose. “Auditions again.”

“Mhmm.” Mina nodded, leaning her head towards him. “No one’s saying yes.”

“Well it’s not as if you’ve been trying.” Artemis observed.

“Hey!” she said, pulling him off her shoulders so she could glare at him.

“Well you haven’t. Mina,” He gave her his sternest look. “You’ve done better acting as a thirteen year old girl trying to pass as an Interpol officer.”

“Hey – Kat said I fooled all those suckers.”

“All of whom she promptly replaced with new Agents,” Artemis reminded her. “You’re heart isn’t in this. Why are you keeping it up?”

Mina’s shoulders slumped as she balanced him back on her shoulders. “I don't…want to be an actress anymore.” She bit her lip. “I don’t know what else I want… And I don’t know how to tell Mum that. It was…it was our dream. And it was Dad’s to a lesser extent.”

“But now it makes you unhappy. Stop doing the auditions.”

“Oh you never know – I might find one I like. And mum said she’s got a few recording studios lined up. I’d still like to sing.” She laughed a bit. “I think.”

“Mina.” Artemis said, letting his claws come out just enough to poke her shoulder. “These are making you miserable.”

“I’m just trying to make her happy okay!” Mina cried, kicking a pebble down the sidewalk. “She hasn’t warmed up to the scout thing at all. It freaks her out, I think. She won’t even let anyone _talk_ about it if you hadn’t noticed.”

“She won’t let me talk either.” Artemis muttered.

“Well you’re a talking cat – that I understand.” Mina sighed. “I just thought…I’m out of High school. If I can give her and Dad this. Maybe they’ll warm up to the scout thing. Maybe if I could be enough of a star they’d even… be cool with Rei.”

Artemis didn’t say anything, just pulled back his claws and curled closer to her, purring. It seemed to help. She giggled.

“They’ll still love you no matter what.” Artemis told her. “They’re just going through a rough thing right now. I promise.”

“Thanks Artemis,” she sniffed.

“You know,” he said. “If you go and pick up the Ferarri now, you can drive Ami to the meeting tonight.”

Minako gasped. “Oh my god that would be SWEET!” She said as she sent off rapid fire texts to Haruka and then Ami. “The leader’s gonna role in in a siiiick ride.” She said, and he nearly fell off her shoulders as she began to run down the sidewalk. “She says Yes!” Mina cried as her phone chimed.

“Mina Slow down!”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The approaching gas giant’s planet power was active – the Guardian’s homeworld. The shadow strained its senses towards it and drew its asteroid shield to a halt. There was no life beneath its vivid blue clouds – so it was a Dead homeworld. Then this might be even easier. The shadow drew together the reserves of power it had amassed in the eons that had passed since it’d seen this world last – as a just-cooled rock with miles high clouds of steam still raining down into the layers of oceans around the core. It let out a shot of black power, shooting it straight towards the planet’s heart.

The giant sphere suddenly glowed bright blue, a trident forming over it as the shadow’s attack breached the atmosphere. Impossible. It waited, but the attack’s remaining energy was eradicated. It felt no more trace of it.

Dead worlds should not have been so strong. It searched through its vast collection of memories for any comparison. None. Impossible.

It must have been _her_ doing. After she’d banished it. And now her descendent had clearly retained some of her tricks.

At least the planet would still be of some use. The shadow glowed green and blue as another two pieces of darkness tore away from its mass, sailing through the path of the starlight and down to the planet unharmed.

At least it had found the Guardian’s world early. It would deal with them. And then the other Guardianless worlds would be even easier to dispatch.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Michiru shot up in bed gasping. She clutched her heart with one hand, breathing hard.

She looked to her left but Haruka’s side of the bed was empty. She was already out on her early morning run.

It was too dark in here. To cold, to empty. Michiru threw back the covers still clutching her chest. Her heart was still hammering as she made her way to the door of the dark bedroom and stumbled through it.

Setsuna looks up from the tea she was pouring when she heard the door to Michiru and Haruka’s room slam open. Michiru appeared only moments later, barefoot and still wearing only one of Haruka’s shirts. She looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Michiru?”

“I don’t suppose there’s enough for one more?” she rasped and cleared her throat, staring at the

Setsuna nodded and set down the kettle, going to the cupboard with the mugs and tea. She automatically selected the calming one, scooped a serving into a diffuser and set that into Michiru’s favorite mug, keeping one eye on Michiru where she leaned against the wall, hair a mess and one hand pressed over her heart  Setsuna poured the new tea and picked up it and her own, she took them over to Michiru. “Careful,” she whispered as she passed the steaming mug down into her best friend’s hands. Michiru seemed not to care though, holding the heat source as close to herself as she could. Setsuna frowned. “Come on,” she said, putting one hand on Michiru’s shoulder. “Let’s get some fresh air.”

She guided them to the glass balcony door and pushed it open, letting Michiru walk out first into the pink light of early morning.  She expected her to go to one of the chairs, but Michiru didn’t make it that far. Almost as soon as she had stepped out into the warm sunlight she sank down against the wall and curled up, pulling her feet underneath her.

Concerned, Setsuna settled down beside Michiru and jumped when her roommate leaned in towards her, seeking the comfort of her shoulder. Setsuna blushed but put an arm around Michiru’s shoulders, trying not to think of how nice this was.

“Bad dream?” Setsuna hedged.

Michiru nodded, lifting the steaming mug of tea up to her lips.

“Neptune was attacked.” Michiru said. “I felt it – and then I had this vision right after it.”

Setsuna stiffened. _I should have seen that_. She worried. _I was in the time dimension just yesterday!_

“Of what?”

She felt Michiru shudder “I can’t… I recall. It was dark.” She whispered “Very, very dark.”

“Something’s coming then,” Setsuna surmised.

“And you haven’t seen anything?” Michiru whispered.

“Not yet. But now I know where to look.” She could do a little bit from here. She focused her attention on the star system beyond the Earth, seeking, seeking. “Neptune’s fine.” She told Michiru. “It’s… been irritated.”

Michiru huffed. “That’s an understatement.”

“I can’t sense anything else,” Setsuna growled in frustration. “What is going _on_?”

“I haven’t seen anything in the mirror either.” Michiru said. “Though I suppose if I looked now.”

“We’re fine for right now,” Setsuna said. She could still feel Michiru’s heart racing. “You can check it after you finish your tea.”

“I,” Michiru sighed, shifting closer to Setsuna. “Alright.”

When they finished their drinks though, Michiru remained curled against her, breathing indicating she might have fallen asleep against Setsuna’s shoulder. Setsuna set aside the urge to rush to the Time Dimension. Whatever Michiru’d dreamed of was still quite far. And Setsuna was loath to move, quite content to soak up the warm light of the rising sun as her roommate dozed against her.

She heard the front door click open and the coffee machine turn on. And a few minutes later Haruka stepped out onto the balcony. She looked down at Setsuna and Michiru and frowned. Setsuna blushed and tried pull away from Michiru but Haruka shook he head and walked around to Michiru’s other side. She settled against the wall and extended her arm so that it rested around both Michiru and Setsuna’s shoulders.

“Haruka,” Michiru whispered, reaching out to put her hand on Haruka’s knee. She didn’t move from Setsuna’s shoulder.

“Alright?” Haruka asked.

Michiru sighed against Setsuna. “it’s so beautiful.”

Beyond the balcony, the sun had risen fully above the horizon, light still turning the clouds and sky above soft lavenders and bright pinks. And the ocean shimmered brilliant greens and blues…

Setsuna shared a knowing glance with Haruka and felt the blond squeeze her shoulder. They all knew – this might be their last peaceful sunrise for a long while. They sat back on the balcony of the penthouse, intent on enjoying it until Hotaru was up and demanding pancakes.

Haruka set down her coffee and fished her phone out of her pocket.

 **“Haruka Kantana”-AKG** : Vision Alert. If ur not at ur gfs house get there.

 **Aino** : Omw. Bad?

 **“Haruka Kantana”-AKG** : Bad.

She had thrown open her window and dashed out to her new car as fast as she could, speeding just a little too fast down the highway. The tires screeched as she stopped the car short in front of Hikawa Shrine and threw it into park. She took the steps three at a time.

She knew something was wrong when she threw open the door of Rei’s room. The blankets were all over the floor and Rei was tossing and turning on her mattress, frowning and covered in sweat. Mina rushed across the floor and sat beside her. She combed Rei’s hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. “Rei-chan,”

But Rei didn’t wake. Her eyes moved rapidly beneath her eyelids as she grimaced, lost in her vision. Minako settled in to wait, picking up her communicator.

“Artemis,” she whispered into the device. “Get out of Luna’s bed. We need you in the control room.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Rei’s vision though, proved nothing they didn’t already know.

“All I could see was darkness,” Rei said as she pounded her hand against the wall of Hikawa Shrine. Minako squeezed her shoulder. Around her, most of the senshi, their familiars, Mamoru and the Shitennou had gathered on Hikawa’s porch. “And…”

“And cold,” Michiru added from her spot against the railing, tucked against Haruka. “I don’t even think Kaguya’s ice felt that freezing.”

“And I can’t see _anything_ in the Time Dimension,” Pluto complained as she appeared on the grounds below the porch. Hotaru and Chibiusa scrambled up off the steps to let her pass them as she de-transformed.

“Well we did manage to find something in the Control Room.” Luna said from her perch on Ami’s shoulder. “A significant degree of ambient energy fluctuations.”

“Which are?” Usagi prompted as Mamoru pulled her close, resting his chin atop her head.

“Seemingly natural,” Ami said and the whole group sighed, defeated. “Or rather, they are natural, but I noticed something odd about them.”

“Hmm?” the all leaned in towards her.

“I’m still trying to identify the reasoning behind them. But the computer has registered similar fluctuations before, a very very long time ago.” Ami said. “Perhaps they’re the reasons your visions are unclear.”

“Or perhaps they’re too far to see,” Mina worried, glancing around at all of them.

“I have all the satellites around the Earth on the look out,” Ami said. “And I’ve loaded the data signatures from all our past enemies onto the Mercury computer. If this enemy is similar at all to any of them, it will come up, and if I can isolate its energy signature I can find a way to track it.”

“In any case,” Setsuna said. “We shouldn’t worry too much – Crystal Tokyo is still very clear.”

“Well that’s good,” Chibiusa and Usagi sighed.

“Maybe I should stay and help,” Mamoru said. And it took all of them a moment to realize.

It had been two years. He’d finally felt ready to embark on the journey again. He was leaving for the United States in less than a week with Jadeite, Zoicite, and Kunzite in toe for protection – finally getting the medical degree he’d dreamed of for years.

“Don’t be silly,” Usagi assured him, turning around in his arms. “We can handle this. What ever it is.” She leaned up to kiss him. “You go. We’ve got this.” She looked around. “Right guys.”

“Right,” her scouts agreed. Though Rei and Michiru looked unsure.

 _It can’t be worse than Galaxia_ , Rei thought to Michiru.

 _We said that about Galaxia in the beginning too,_ Michiru reminded her. _And our visions of her were quite clear._

 _These are the first visions,_ Rei countered. _They’ll get clearer. Especially if we learn what we’re dealing with_.

 _I hope you’re right – I really do_. Michiru sighed. _There’s one thing that is concerning though._

 _Pluto can’t see it_. They thought together.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The shadow had sent the star-resistant pieces of itself off along the orbital paths of two other planets besides the great blue one before it encountered another.

Or rather: its neighborhood. It saw a moon first, a petty, chunk of rock only a bit bigger than the asteroid protecting it from the starlight. It shot an attack at it despite its uselessness – soaking up the faint traces of planet power in the dead stone.

The great crescent of orange and brown and red that was the planet’s light side dwarfed its hiding place thousands of times over. It debated: to use or feast?

It had still not found the Guardian, it would need all its resources to do battle with them.

Oh but its failure with the blue giant rankled. It wanted to take one. Just one. It moved closer the the hulking planet and froze as it neared enough to sense its energy.

It was active.

The shadow hissed, reaching towards the world and then retreating as the sunlight burned it

The blue had been active and dead.

And now this monstrous thing was active too and – it strained its senses farther – dead.

In all its memories there was no answer, no clue.

It was _her_ doing. Somehow, this Guardian had left behind not one of themselves but two…

In a rage, it let lose another energy blast. Just like with the blue giant, this one slammed into a wall of green power – the planet’s symbol hovering over the atmosphere.

The shadow hissed, in a rage letting loose even more of its power.

_Where were these guardians?_

There. Two more of these miserable rocks in on the other side of the star. It glowed white and gold as two more bits of its mass tore away, racing towards the giant world. Then it sunk into its asteroid shield and raced onwards.

It considered going back as it assessed its reserves. But it had come so far. It wouldn’t let that pathetic, mortal creature defeat it again. It raced on, intent on the third world from the star. It would find out how there were two. And where they were hiding.

And then at last, it would conquer Sol.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

**Kino, Makoto: R u guyz coming?**

**Ami: Nearly there.**

Makoto heard the screech of the tires as she looked up from her phone. The dark blue Ferrari gleamed under the pre-dawn street lamps as Minako leaned out of the drivers seat and lowered her sunglasses. She winked at Rei.

“My lady,”

“Please tell me you’re going to drive slower than that to get to the airport.” Rei complained as she traded seats with Ami, who rushed to get into the statistically safer back seats.

“Haruka didn’t teach how to do slow,” Minako joked. “Any dreams?”

Rei shook her head as Makoto hopped over the side of the car and buckled her seatbelt. “And I meditated… I saw flashes of… I don’t even know what.”

“Stay positive,” Minako coached as she pulled back onto the road, going from zero to 60 in less than a second. “Things are getting clearer.”

“If that means its getting closer I don’t know if I like that,” Makoto complained, gripping tight to the side of the car.

They arrived at the airport fifteen minutes earlier than the GPS had predicted, and even Rei threw herself out of the vehicle as soon as Minako had brought it to a stop.

“I’m _working_ on the turning thing, okay?” she complained as she hopped out of the drivers seat.

“There you are,” Haruka said, waving them over to the door of Departures.

“We’re on time,” Minako huffed.

“They’re on time. You’re parked in the fire lane.” She pointed at the Ferrari.

“I – ugh!” Minako stomped back to the car and Haruka frowned.

“So did you bribe her drivers examiner,” Makoto asked. “Or…”

“She’s distracted,” Haruka decided. “She was much better than this two weeks ago. Is it the new enemy?”

“It’s her mother,” Rei confided in them.

Before she could explain though, the doors of Departures slid apart and Luna bounded out, hopping up onto Makoto’s shoulders.

“His flight’s boarding,” she informed them.

The terminal wasn’t very crowded thankfully. They found who they were looking for right away.

The Tsukinos stood just to the left of the vast network of ropes that made up the security line. In the line already, they could see Kunzite with his arm around Zoicite, who was triple checking their passports for the third time. Ami had said the Visas would pass. Zoicite had said he was prepared to persuade anyone he had too. It was a power he hadn’t practiced in years though. And they were all hoping it wouldn't come down to magic anyways.

Mamoru and Usagi were easy to spot – so close together they mightn’t even have seen Usagi save for her arms cinched tight around the back of his shirt. Setsuna and Michiru were standing off to the side with Hotaru, who was holding Chibiusa’s hand. The group walked up to them.

“They’re going to do the final call in ten minutes,” Setsuna said as they watched Usagi and Mamoru say their goodbyes.

“Makoto!” Nephrite waved as strode over to them, winking at Makoto who blushed and grinned when she saw him.

“Still haven’t changed your mind?” she asked. Scratching Luna behind the ears. She appreciated being their advisor’s perch today. The airport really wasn’t her favorite place.

“No – besides,” he grinned. “I have a date on Friday.”

“Oh you do,” Makoto bit her lip and looked away.

“Oh rather, I hope I do.”

“You hope?” she asked.

“It would be more than an errant hope so long as you said yes,” he said, winking at her.

“Oh he’s got the charm down.” Michiru murmured to Haruka and Setsuna as Makoto stared at Nephrite, nodding a yes when her words failed her.

“Ah new love,” Minako announced as she slid in beside Rei, hugging her close. “So cute.”

“I don’t know,” Ami sighed. “Old love looks more romantic to me.”

Indeed, Usagi and Mamoru had stepped apart just a bit now – just enough to stare at eachother with ridiculously gooey expressions. Mamoru said something and Usagi shook her head, leaning up and grabbing him by the lavender collar of his shirt so she could kiss him properly for one last second…two…five…

“Kenji’s going to have an aneurysm,” Haruka muttered, causing everyone around her to break into laughter. Mr. Tsukino was very purple in the face while Shingo’s expression of disgust mirrored Jadeite’s at the end of the security line.

For her part, Ikuko had clasped her hands together and was leaning close to Kenji, sighing as she gazed affectionately towards her daughter and her fiancé.

When they finally parted, Usagi stood at the end of the security line and waved Mamoru goodbye until he reached the check in desk and was ushered through to the metal detectors. It looked like Jadeite was having some trouble.

“Did we tell him to take out the piercing?” Chibiusa wondered.

“He probably figured we were joking” Hotaru shrugged. Usagi was making her way over to them.

“All of you guys came.” She said as she opened her arms to hug them.

“Of course we did, Bun-head.” Rei nagged. “What kind of friends do you think we are?”

“The best ones,” Usagi said, looking towards her family. “I told them I’d go home with you guys.” She said. “I want to stay and watch the take off.”

“There’s a good spot up on the roof.” Setsuna suggested. “This way.”

“ _How_ does she know that,” Minako asked as they followed the Time Guardian.

“Cause _she_ reads.” Hotaru teased Mina as everyone around them broke into laughter.

They could see the _American Airlines_ plane as it rolled away from the Terminal and onto the runway. Usagi was beaming, though her eyes were wet.

“You seem…happier than I thought you’d be.” Makoto observed beside her.

“I am happy,” she said. “He’s finally going to have his dreams come true. I mean – of course I want him to stay. But he’s waited two years cause I didn’t want him to leave – and _he_ doesn’t want to leave.” She sniffed. “So I’m gonna make sure I see him off with a smile. Even from here.”

They couldn’t help smiling at her as they watched the plane near the take-off position. The sun gleamed across its great wings.

“And you’re alright,” Luna reminded Makoto as she purred on Makoto’s shoulders.

“Ehh, these are way bigger than my parents plane.” Makoto said. “I’m fine – but thank you.” She said, then laughed when Usagi slipped her arm around Makoto’s waist. “You’re all the best.”

“Thank you for coming here to support me, Mako-chan.” Usagi said. And Nephrite squeezed her hand. Along the roof, the others listened into the exchange with smiles of their own.

Mina’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She held Rei tighter and ignored it. Her mother could wait a few minutes. This was important.

“Take off in ten…nine,” Setsuna murmured. They watched the plane’s wheels begin to spin.

“I wish I could say goodbye to him one more time,” Usagi sighed. “He’s gonna be gone till summer at least.”

“Well the plane has wifi,” Ami said. “You’ll probably get a text from him in a few minutes.”

“I don’t want a text.” Usagi said, and made a noise of surprise as the plane’s wheels lifted off the runway. “He’s in the air.”

“He’ll be fine,” Setsuna assured her and Makoto.

“Oh…” Usagi squinted up at the plane as it soared steadily upwards. “I need too.” Makoto and the others gasped as she pulled away from them, transforming into Sailor Moon and stepping up to the edge of the roof. She unfurled her wings.

“Sailor Moon!” Minako said. “wait a –” but she had already taken off, pursuing the plan. All save Setsuna rushed to the edge of the roof as they stared after her.

“She’s gonna get caught in the engine,” Chibiusa sighed. “Great. Now I’m gonna have to explain that I don't exist because Mom got defeated by an airplane.” She pouted as she strained over the edge of the roof, wishing she could follow. But her own new form didn’t yet have wings. “Ves is gonna laugh herself silly.”

“Let her go,” Setsuna advised them. “She’ll be back soon,” Sailor Moon had caught up to the plane now. She was probably blowing kisses at Mamoru through the window. “She’s only going to fly with them to the coast.”

“She’ll be seen,” Rei worried.

“Maybe we should let her have this,” Michiru sighed. “After all, happiness can be so short lived.” She squeezed Haruka’s hand and then, after a moment, grabbed Setsuna’s too. “We should enjoy it while its here.”

They all watched Sailor Moon fly, her wings shining even brighter than the plane’s as she ushered Mamoru safely away, only turning back when the plane had reached cruising altitude over the ocean.

And they all appreciated, more sweetly than they had a few weeks prior, just how beautiful the morning was.

~ _AgeofAquarius~_


	2. The Seers' Sightings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> half feels and half drama. ;)

 

  **The Seers’ Sightings**

It had been two weeks since there had been signs of anything amiss. There had been no more dreams of darkness and nothing from the Control Room or the Mercury computer. Michiru’s mirror was blank. And Rei had seen absolutely nothing in the fire.

Even Ami’s discovery of the energy fluctuations seemed to be a dead end.

“It’s the Astrological Ages,” she’d explained. “I didn’t recognize it as a pattern before since the last time the computer recorded these it had just been set up. And then the fluctuations were different. But I saw it on TV today – they’re predicting the Age of Aquarius beginning soon."

“The transition from Pisces began a few years ago,” Setsuna confirmed. “We are exactly on The Cusp now”

“Where neither age is dominant,” Luna added. “Which would explain why there’s energy fluctuations across space.”

“It can’t be a coincidence that a new enemy’s appeared along with it,” Artemis chimed in.

“Did one appear on the last Cusp?” Minako asked.

But Ami shook her head. “Searches turn up blank,” she said, brows furrowed. “Though the records may have been lost – or not added. The computer system was much newer around then, and I imagine its capabilities were far more primitive.”

“By the time we joined Serenity’s team of advisors it had existed well over a millennia,” Luna added. “So I know little of its origins or early records.”

The only sign that this mysterious enemy might still be lurking, was the Time Dimension, which continued to show a progression of time rife with minor “glitches” as Setsuna’d begun referring to them. But major events were still on track: Crystal Tokyo still an overwhelmingly clear outcome of their timeline.

Every now and then though, the sand and fog that swirled through the time dimension would ripple or shift in an uncoordinated direction, the events of the immediate future would blur, and Pluto couldn’t set foot in the Time Dimension now without being struck by an immediate sense of unease.

Which was why Setsuna had devoted nearly every free moment the past few weeks to watching over her domain. Try as she might to track the disturbances to their source, they always disappeared before she had a chance to catch them. Nor did she ever catch them as they appeared, only noticed once they’d already formed.

“It’s troublesome,” Setsuna confided in Michiru as they worked on dinner together one night. “I can see there’s unusual activity. I can see the route to Crystal Tokyo is… bumpy is a crude, but simple way of describing it – but for the life of me I _can’t_ see anything actually in the way.”

“Has it ever looked this way before?”

“75 times,” Setsuna responded. “Pass the,”

“Pepper.” Michiru smiled as she tossed it across the island to her. Michiru raised her eyebrow and grinned when Setsuna caught it without looking. “I believe Minako would call that perfect timing.”

Setsuna snorted. “That girl never ceases to have terrible puns.”

As she grated the spice over the meal, Michiru continued. “So if this is a fairly common phenomenon, shouldn’t you already know what’s going on?”

Setsuna frowns. “I’m not even sure 75 is a high enough number to qualify it as infrequent but in any case,” she set the pepper aside and reached for the recipe. “It signals a time-traveler – It’s not the what that is the problem, it’s the timing.”

“I don’t follow,” Michiru said.

“We’ve already seen signs of this intruder within linear time – normally when I see this it means that the time-travel has yet to occur. The fluctuations would simply signal that an entity exists with the potential to disrupt time – Furthermore, before linear time is effected, I can usually identify the origin time coordinates of the disturbance and if not head-it-off, mitigate the damage.” She drummed her fingers on the counter. “Whereas whatever this being is – it is already causing disruptions. At that point I should _see_ something.” She sighed, going back to the dumplings. “I should be there more.”

“Perhaps,” Michiru said, reaching to her left and glancing in the Aqua Mirror. Nothing but hr own reflection. “But that said – I hardly think spending more time away would help – you were already gone four whole days this week – you know we had to call your boss and tell him you were down with the flu.”

“Sorry,” Setsuna flushed. “I’m putting in for an emergency leave of absence on Monday.”

“How did you end up gone for so long?”

“Ironically? I lost track of time – since its more flexible behind the Time Doors.”

Michiru paused in the middle of taste-testing the soup. “If I follow that logic correctly that means you might be spending far longer than four of our days there.”

“It varies,” Setsuna said. “I should be devoting more time to it than I am,”

“You’re not saying you’re going back, are you?” Michiru worried.

“Duty calls,” Setsuna shrugged. “I’m much more use to all of you there after all – I could be missing something by keeping watch so infrequently.”

“I’d consider it a majority of your time – It has been weeks. None of us have found anything yet. It seems futile to me.”

Setsuna looked up at her, setting aside the dumplings. “You’d rather wait until whatever’s coming is close enough to be sensed by other means?”

“Oh please,” Michiru waved her hand. “Technically you weren’t even the first to sense it. I just think it’s entirely likely that devoting all your days to this is too much.”

Setsuna sighed. “See that just means I _should_ be there more. I’ve been…” she bit her lip and looked back towards their food. “Quite lax about my duties the past few years actually. It’s past time I returned to them. I don’t want to leave,” she said hastily. “But I know you’d be better served if I were keeping a constant watch.”

“I still don’t think you should spend anymore time there than you have to,” Michiru said. “I worry about you.”

Setsuna shook her head. “It’s what I exist to do. I have no meaningful purpose to linear time. And” She shrugged, keeping her eyes focused on the dough under her hands. “It’s not as if you need me here.”

“Hotaru does,”

“I – she has you and Haruka,” Setsuna said, putting on a small smile. “You’re great with her. And she has Souichi. And of course, I would give her a time key.”

“Would that really be enough for you?” Michiru asked, turning down the heat on the stove.

“It… It has to be eventually.”

 _Why is it_ , Michiru thought _that this idea that you need to stay there alone forever never quite leaves you?_ She understood duty well enough, but thinking of her friend, it seemed as cruel a fate as the universe could hand down. This was the woman who adored walks with them through the botanical gardens because the colors and smells were, as she put it, breath-taking. This was the best friend who made fun of opportunistic fortune tellers with her, and happily accompanied her on shopping adventures each Saturday, even with her tendency to waste the whole day trying on frivolous things – Haruka frequently got bored, but Setsuna never did. This was the same woman who craved companionship even at her most introverted. _What makes you so different that you have to be apart from us_? Michiru thought.

“I’m home!” Haruka’s voice called as the front door thumped closed. She strolled into the kitchen with a brown paper bag under one arm. “They were out of your favourite so I just grabbed this one instead,” Ruka said as she removed the wine from the bag. She put it on the counter and bumped shoulders with Setsuna. Chuckling as she observed the dumplings she was folding. “How the hell do you get those to look so perfect?”

Suna shrugged, smiling a little. “Cooking isn’t something I get to do while guarding time. I did a lot of it when I first got here. Just to try everything.”

Ruka’s arm slipped around Setsuna, and Michiru watched her blush as she leaned into Ruka.

“Well you’ll have plenty more time to practice,” Ruka said, reaching into the drawer for the wine opener. “We can’t go wasting you on the Time Doors when you make dumplings like this.”

And Michiru watched the smile fill her face and Haruka continue on seemingly unaware she’d just said exactly what Setsuna needed to hear.

 _I just wish we didn’t have to remind you; you belong with us_ , she thought. Then whirled around to focus on the soup so Ruka wouldn’t notice the thoughtful expression on her face.

She worried her lip as she stirred. Setsuna belonged with them: it seemed like such a simple fact, but she felt the weight of the thought… and the meaning.

She’d thought it before. She’d said it before – to Haruka.

And Haruka’d said it to her.

 _“Why do you stay?”_ she’d asked for the first time as she bandaged Haruka’s sprained ankle after a fight with a daimon had gone south _._

 _“Because I belong with you,”_ Haruka had said. And it had sent Michiru’s heart aflutter.

Just as it was now…

 _Setsuna belongs with us…_ Michiru thought again.

 _I love them both,_ she realized. _I think I love them both_.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Souichi Tomoe called just as they finished cooking to say that he’d be an hour late dropping Hotaru and Chibiusa off for dinner. Setsuna assured him it was fine before promptly retreating to her office. She emerged only a few minutes before the two girls burst through the door ahead of Mr. Tomoe. They hugged Setsuna before charging off towards Hotaru’s room, shouting enthusiastic greetings at Haruka and Michiru as they passed.

“I’m ah, sorry again.” Souichi said, standing just outside the door. “We got caught up at the park – And you’ll have to forgive me. I tried to buy them dinner since we were so late, but Hotaru was insistent they eat here. She’s become…quite willful,” he said with a slight frown that seemed to imply it was somehow their fault.

“Again it’s fine,” Setsuna insisted, though the hard-eyed looks Michiru and Haruka sent him over her shoulder conveyed it was anything but.

He departed quickly, bidding them a civil if brusque farewell, and Haruka shouted down the hall for the two girls to get ready to eat. Since it was a long-established rule that enemies and evil threats were to be set aside for family dinners the three of them pushed their worries aside as they settled down for a meal they’d been looking forward to since Hotaru’d left the previous Sunday night.

A meal throughout which, she discussed nothing but her father.

“He found all mom’s old photos in storage! I didn’t even know she was into photography. She has these like, amazing shots. And Papa used to do a lot of photography too! Did you know he put a dark room in the new house.” Hotaru grinned. “He’s taking pictures again – he said he hadn’t taken the camera out in years. And he showed me how to use it and develop the film and everything.”

“It’s so cool,” Chibiusa agreed. “But its really hard – I like drawing better.”

“He said he’d buy me a camera for my birthday,” Hotaru went on. “Oh! And on Saturday, we made those volcanoes like at the science fair. And he taught us how to turn the lava green and, it had, like, nothing on astrophysics theories,” she said to Setsuna. “But it was still wicked fun. And – Chibiusa! Tell them about the park!”

Given how reluctant she’d been to move back in with her father, it was a bittersweet for all of them to hear her so excited now.

 _Though really,_ Setsuna thought. _We’ve no right to be jealous. We did steal her to begin with._

“And is Mugen any better?” Haruka asked. “Have you had to punch anyone?”

“Haruka-papa! I’m not supposed to solve my problems with fists,” Hotaru laughed.

“That’s right you’re not,” Michiru said, giving Haruka a playful glare.

“And it’s been a lot better,” Hotaru said. “Papa’s letting me enroll in some of the advanced classes – and music! They say if I practice enough I could play some of your old parts in the orchestra performances!” she said to Michiru.

“That’s wonderful!” Michiru exclaimed.

“And what about your friends?” Setsuna asked. “Are you making any?”

Indeed she was: not close friends like Chibiusa, but apparently her bullies in the upper years weren’t stopping Mugen’s younger pupils from making friends with her. She wasn’t sure how many were real friends and how many were just impressed she was the Principal’s daughter, but her experience since she’d fainted on the first day had been much better.

 _I knew she’d like it_. Setsuna thought later as she put the last clean dish on the drying rack. _The curriculum’s exactly the kind of challenge she needs. And she can make friends there – which she couldn’t when we homeschooled her._ She stared at her impassive reflection in the dishwater as the opening notes of two violins began a duet in the music room. Setsuna closed her eyes, listening to the beautiful sounds. _Michiru and Haruka are so good with her_ , she thought. _Michiru and she can bond over music. And Haruka’s more than happy to entertain her and tell her stories._

The duet from the music room trailed off and she heard Chibiusa’s enthusiastic cheering and clapping and Michiru’s laughter.

 _She’s got two perfectly good parents,_ Setsuna reasoned. _Three now, with Souichi. She doesn’t need me around so frequently anymore. It’s past time I returned to my post_.

After all, though they insisted she was welcome, it certainly wasn’t as though Haruka and Michiru really needed her around.

“You’re brooding again,” Haruka’s low voice startled her and she turned. The blond was leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed.

“Since when does thinking have to be brooding,” Setsuna countered.

Haruka smirked at her. “Since it’s you.” She moved away from the wall and came over to the sink, bumping elbows with her.

Setsuna glanced away, trying to ignore the silly fluttery feeling she got whenever Michiru or Haruka was this close.

“You gonna come back and hang out with everyone soon?” Haruka prompted. “Hotaru’s really excited to show off this new piece she’s learning.”

“I’ll be back in a bit.” Setsuna said. “I’ve still got somethings to think about.”

“Well, she kinda can’t start without you,” Haruka said. “She’s insisting this one needs a piano accompaniment.”

“But…you can do that far better than I can.” Frustratingly, music, while beautiful, was proving harder for her to pick up than she’d thought. She’d never play as beautifully as Michiru or Haruka.

“Well see, I actually can’t.” Haruka laughed, holding her right hand out in front of her. There were two fresh band-aids across her knuckles and her hand was looking a bit red. “I was working on the car all day – way too tired to play those keys.” She looked at Setsuna. “Besides Hotaru and Chibiusa want you to play.”

“I…alright.” She smiled. “Tell them I’ll be there in a minute.”

But Haruka didn’t move. “What’s up?” she asked. “You’ve been quiet all evening. Is it something in the future.”

“No.” she shook her head. “At least, not that I’ve seen yet.” She stared down at her hands rather than look at Haruka. “I think it’s time I returned to my station.”

“Wait what?” Haruka said. “You’re not going back to guarding the time doors _now_ you just got back a few hours ago.”

“No I mean…well of course I suppose I’ll still be able to spend the weekend here…but it’s time I returned permanently.”

“Wh-bu- _Setsuna,”_ Haruka put her hand on Setsuna’s shoulder and turned her so they were facing each other. “ _Why_?”

Setsuna closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I simply feel like it’s time.”

“But – bu-bullshit,” Haruka swore. “We still have that new enemy coming – we need you here.”

“You need me where I’m useful,” Setsuna said. “Which is making sure the future stays on track. And we all know my view from linear time is limited.”

“That’s why you visit,” Haruka said. “You don’t have to spend eternity there.”

“I do though, I’ve told you,” Setsuna said, still looking down at her crossed arms. “I’m the Guardian Beyond the Doors. I was created to guard the Time Dimension. I always have. And I’m always meant to. The fact that I’m here at all is against the rules.”

“Fuck the rules!” Haruka said. Her other hand reached up for Setsuna’s other shoulder. “Would you look at me?” she pleaded. And waited.

After a few seconds, Setsuna did lift her head.

Haruka gave her an encouraging smile. “You were reborn on Earth,” she said. “After the Black Moon, after the Death Busters, _and_ after Galaxia.” She let Setsuna think about that before continuing. “So if the universe really meant for you to stay outside of linear time – it’s doing a really crap job.”

“There’s a simple explanation for all three instances,” Setsuna said.

“Oh yeah, have you figured it out yet?” When she got no response, Haruka continued. “Maybe that was your job in the beginning. But it’s changed now. You’re meant to be here – with us.”

Setsuna blinked her eyes shut several times and shook her head, recognizing the befuddling signs of tears. “I wish it were so,” Setsuna sighed. “But I feel it,” she lifted a hand and tapped a finger against her forehead. “It’s always there – this sense that I _should_ return. It’s as unavoidable as when you’ve gone a day without eating or sleeping – eventually you can’t avoid the need anymore.”

Haruka had no counter to that. She shook her head. “You can ignore it for a while longer, can’t you? Put aside the magical destiny stuff,” she said. “Hotaru needs you here.”

“You underestimate yourself,” Setsuna smiled at her. “You’re a brilliant parent to her, Haruka: you and Michiru. She doesn’t _need_ me.”

“Oh yeah,” Haruka challenged. “Well I think the kid herself would refute that, but lemme try.” She squeezed Setsuna’s shoulders. “Think – when was the last time she called you Mama?”

“At dinner, but she’s always done that. She calls Michiru mama as well.”

“No she doesn’t,” Haruka laughed. “And she very rarely calls me Papa anymore – just Haruka-papa.”

“I’m… sorry,” Setsuna said.

“Don’t be. I don’t mind. Point is: I’m “Papa” whenever she’s scared. Michiru gets to be “Mama” whenever the kid wants something.” She grinned at Setsuna. “She calls _you_ Mama all the time.” She let the realization sink in as the sound of the two violins drifted through the penthouse once more. “So don’t tell me she doesn’t need you.”

“I still can’t stay forever,” Setsuna said.

“Well stay a little longer, please.” And she pulled Setsuna close, startling the taller time-guardian as she held her close. “ _We_ need you too.”

Setsuna blushed. Her heart flipped. Haruka wasn’t playing fair. She still leaned into the hug. “You shouldn’t need me,” she insisted. “That’s unwise. Because you can’t put aside magical destinies forever.”

 _The hell I can’t_ , Haruka thought. _I don’t want her to leave!_

The strength of the thought surprised her. She frowned as she held her close.

She’d always known she loved Setsuna as a friend.

But the thought of her having to leave struck her with an intensity that had nothing to do with friendship.

 _But…_ Haruka thought. _I love Michiru…_

She pushed aside the confusing thoughts as she heard Chibiusa’s clapping resume, signaling the end of the latest practice. “Come on,” Haruka said to Setsuna. “Ignore the destiny thing a little longer.” She hesitated, then grabbed Setsuna’s hand, dragging her away from the kitchen and her brooding.

It didn’t have to mean anything right?

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

As soon as Hotaru’d left with Souichi Sunday night, Setsuna retreated behind the Time Doors.

Michiru and Haruka hung their heads and leaned, resigned, against the walls of the front hallway as Setsuna said only that she had duties to attend to, and transformed into Sailor Pluto.

But Chibiusa, who’d stayed the whole weekend, chased after her. “Wait!”

She hugged Pluto around the waist as the Time Doors materialized behind her. “You won’t be gone long will you?”

She patted Chibiusa on the head and smiled at her, directing the same smile at Haruka and Michiru. “Only as long as I need to be Small Lady,” she said. “The Time Dimension is still the most likely place to gain information about this new enemy.”

“Some enemy,” Chibiusa muttered. “It’s nothing, right? I mean we haven’t even seen a daimon yet. It’s been weeks.”

“I was having dreams about the apocalypse half a year before I saw my first Death Buster,” Michiru said. And Haruka nodded. “It might be far away, or still planning,” she sighed. “But it’s coming.”

“So it’s best if I go,” Pluto said.

Chibiusa sighed and released her, looking into the Time Dimension as the doors swung open. “I’ll just miss you.”

“I’ll miss you as well.” Pluto then turned and stepped through the doors. Chibiusa raised her arm as the fog and sand whipped up around her. Then the Time Guardian turned and Pluto directed a thoughtful face towards her. “Small Lady,”

“Yes?”

“It isn’t necessary: Crystal Tokyo is still clear,” she assured her. Chibiusa’s shoulder’s sagged. She’d been wondering when this would come up. “But I believe it would be best if you were not involved in this conflict.”

“But you need help!” Chibiusa protested. “And I still need training.”

“I think facing Chaos proves you’ve more than completed that training.” Pluto smiled. “The only thing keeping you from becoming a full senshi is that you are still here – away from your own time.”

“But…but you need me here!” Chibiusa protested. “I wanna fight!”

“Which is why I’m giving you the choice,” Pluto said. “But given how…uncertain I am about what this enemy is, I think I won’t be the only one who’d feel better if you were safely in your own future.” She conjured a silver and purple key and let it go. It floated through the Time Doors and into Chibiusa’s hands. “Please consider it.”

And then the doors were closed.

She felt someone ruffle hair and looked up at Michiru. “Come on,” she said, nodding towards the front doors. Haruka held it open, twirling the car keys in one hand. “I bet Usagi misses you.”

“Does not,” Chibiusa pouted. “She said she was happy I’d be gone all weekend – so she could have the web cam all to herself,” she said as she followed the two of them out of the house. “She said she wanted to skype Mamo-chan without _me_ interrupting.” She complained. “Whatever that means.”

“Sometimes you need to give them time to themselves.” Michiru said.

“When they’re _together_ yeah sure,” Chibiusa said. Frowning as she stared at her shoes. “But I don’t get it, it’s not like you can do _that_ with a web cam.”

Haruka coughed and turned bright red.

Michiru hid her laugh behind her hand. “In any case you need to go home – you still have school tomorrow.”

“Awwwwwww,” Chibiusa pouted. “It’s not as fun without Hotaru.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

It turned out Usagi had missed her more than she let on. No sooner was Chibiusa through the front door of the Tsukino home than her future mother had pulled her close and asked her to tell her everything about the weekend. And then she’d offered her cookies (which she hadn’t baked herself) and they’d watched the whole season finale of _Cake Boss_ together before Ikuko-mama had reminded Usagi that Chibiusa still had school in the morning.

“Oh – that’s right,” Usagi slapped a hand over her face and rounded on Chibiusa. “Go on – you need your sleep so you can be up on time tomorrow.” She laughed and wagged her finger at Chibiusa. “You _don’t_ want to take after me.”

Chibiusa’d rolled her eyes but complied. Usagi’d been so much more like a _mom_ since Galaxia. It could be a little annoying. Usagi wasn’t her mom _yet_. Why’d she get to tell her what to do?

As she was coming back from brushing her teeth and about to head up to her room, she heard Usagi and her future grandparents talking downstairs. She turned away from the door to her attic room and crept down the staircase.

Shingo was already there. He held a finger to his lips as she crouched down beside him on the staircase.

“Is she really going to _fight_?” Kenji was asking.

Usagi sighed. “Chibiusa’s fought a lot of battles, Dad. Whatever’s coming she’s gonna insist on fighting this too.”

“Like _you_ are?” Ikuko asked, her voice higher than usual.

“Mama,” Usagi said. “I’m the strongest Senshi on our team – I have the Silver Crystal. And they’re my friends – I’d never let any of them fight without me.”

“ _Damn_ ,” Shingo swore, eyes wide. He was impressed. Chibiusa shushed him.

“This won’t be like that…Chaos thing will it?” Ikuko sniffed.

“No,” Usagi said “I promise.”

“Can she really promise that?” Shingo asked.

Chibiusa shook her head.

“Well, but,” Kenji began again. “How can you let Chibiusa…I mean isn’t she your ah,”

“My grand-daughter,” Ikuko sniffed. “I’d rather I fight a monster than her!”

“No,” Usagi insisted. “You can’t fight. Mama, Papa: Chibiusa and I are Senshi. We’re destined to fight. And we’re not sitting ducks either.” Chibiusa heard Usagi laugh. “I know you don’t want her to fight – I don’t want her to either but,”

Chibiusa shook her head, at once standing up and tip-toing to her room.

She didn’t need to hear anymore.

 _This is so different_ , she thought as collapsed on her bed. _Usually we’re already fighting the enemy by now. There’s no time to think about it._

 _And Ikuko-mama and Kenji-papa are worried about us now too_. Chibiusa bit her lip and fished the Time Key out of her pocket.

 _I wanna help them fight,_ Chibiusa thought, picking up the key. _Maybe if I go back…and I could get Ceres and them to help…I could even ask Mama what was coming. I mean she’s fought it already._

Pluto would tell her that wasn’t what Time Travel was for.

_Yeah, but Pluto likes me. I’d be forgiven eventually._

“Alright.” She said, standing on her bed and raising the time-key. It gleamed in the moonlight. “I’m gonna come back – so don’t think about keeping me there. This is just a pit stop.” She closed her eyes and concentrated. “Take me to the 30th Century!”

She felt the power in the key activate and the magenta clouds swirl together above her head. Her feet lifted off the bed as a column of pink light engulfed her.

 _No one will have to worry if I tell them it’ll be alright_ , she though as the power of the Time-Key pulled her up into the vortex.

The tips of her fingers had barely brushed the magenta clouds when an icy shock hit her. She shouted, jerking her hand back as she watched the Magenta clouds fade to gray and then vanish. All that remained above her were the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling. The pink column of time energy around her flickered out.

And then she fell, hitting the bed and bouncing onto the floor.

“What?” she whispered, looking at the time key in her hand.

“ _CHIBIUSA!_ ” Usagi, Ikuko, and Kenji’s voice called up the stairs. She sat up as she heard feet stomping up the stairs and tucked the Time Key under her bed. Then Usagi burst through the door.

“I’m fine,” she rushed to assure Usagi. “I uh,” she grinned sheepishly. “I was jumping on the bed…and I fell.”

“Oh,” Usagi frowned. “Well… be more careful.”

“I will!” Chibiusa said. “Don’t worry, Mama.”

The title worked to distract her. Usagi flushed and scratched the back of her head. “Yeah…well. Uh. Just be careful – and get your sleep.”

“I’m gonna,” Chibiusa assured her, getting up from the floor and going across the room to hug her. “Goodnight, Mama.”

“Goodnight,” Usagi said, hugging her and then heading down the stairs. “She’s fine,” she heard Usagi tell Ikuko and Kenji.

Chibiusa shut and locked her door. Then she turned, put her back against the wood, and slid down the wall until she was sitting, hugging her knees. She stared at the glint of the time key under her bed.

 _I can’t get home!_ She thought, staring at her hands. They were quite solid. She wasn’t disappearing.

But still.

_What is going on?_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Artemis asked as he sat at the desk with Minako. It was sunrise. The warm, pink rays of light streamed through the window and highlighted the bags under her eyes. He wondered it she realized she’d stayed up all night pacing.

“I’m sure.” Minako said, leaning heavily on the desk with a pen poised in her right hand and a thick document held under her other.

“You did say you needed time to think about it,” Artemis said. “Time can be more than a night.”

“I know but…” Minako bit her lip. “This is the shot she’s been waiting for.”

“Exactly,” Artemis said. “ _She_ not you. This is a big commitment, Mina. If you have to do this and fight a new enemy you’ll run yourself into the ground.”

“Don’t you mean drive,” Mina teased. “Get it – cause I can drive now.”

Artemis didn’t laugh.

She’d gotten a callback on Friday, and by noon on Monday she’d walked out of the TV studio with a contract in hand and her mother gushing to her father over the phone about how Minako’d _finally_ broken back into the business.

And now it was Tuesday at dawn. Artemis really hated it when she made her decisions by forgoing sleep (as if that helped her judgment).

“Look,” Minako said, letting out a yawn. “I can’t keep putting it off forever. I need a career.”

“There’s Makoto’s bakery,” Artemis said.

“And I need to get my mother off my back,” she said loudly, then immediately hushed as she heard her younger sister stir in the next room. “I know what I’m doing Artemis,” she said, initialing all seven pages of the contract and then signing her name to the back page. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I promise if there’s a fight, the TV show can suck it.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” he said. “Just _tell_ your mother you have battles to prepare for.”

“I tried,” Minako said. “Didn’t work.” She sighed and picked up the contract, considering it. “So instead, I’m gonna tell her the good news. Don’t worry,” she winked at him. “I’ll make it work.”

He sighed and followed her out of the bedroom, padding down the hall of the Ainos’ house past all the pictures from Minako’s childhood pageants, concerts, talent shows, and her tour in England.

He heard Hikari Aino before he saw her. Her shriek of delight echoed through the otherwise quiet house. Artemis watched from the top of the stairs as she hugged Minako, nearly lifting her daughter off the ground. She had Mina’s signed contract clutched in her hand.

And Mina was grinning, and giggling. And then when Hideki Aino passed Artemis and came down the stairs to see what everyone was shouting about, Mina grinned and told him, and got a hug from her father too.

Hugs had been sparing in the Aino household since Mina’d returned from the Galaxy Cauldron. In fact Artemis thought he could count the hugs she’d gotten from her parents since then on two paws.

He used to find Hikari Aino a bit insufferable and too high pitched for feline ears.

Now he didn’t know how he was meant to tell Minako he hated her mother. Mina certainly wouldn’t hear anyone trashing her parents but herself.

 _I hope it actually does make you happy_ , Artemis thought. Scowling as Hikari kissed the acting contract. _And I hope you can make it work, I don’t want to be right about what will happen if you pick the Senshi over your mother_.

Because Mina would. Every time. Artemis padded back to the bedroom. There was another copy of the contract in Minako’s bag. He could at least make sure she’d read all the fine print.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Rei’d woken up that morning shivering, with another nightmare about the coming darkness.

They were infrequent by the standards of prophetic dreams, for sure. But today she thought she’d seen something or the outline of something. A flash of light or movement.

She couldn’t quite remember it when she woke. Which was why she’d begged her way out of chores after breakfast with Makoto in order to spend the morning sat in front of the fire.

She stared into the flames and past them, into space. The lights of stars flickered with varying intensities very far away in a different part of the galaxy,  Deimos Castle glinted as it passed beyond Mars shadow, catching Sol's light.

She looked all around the abyss of space – from the blinding light of Sol on one side to the deep darkness of the outer solar system on the other.

Mars drifted peacefully on its orbit, its two moons and their twin castles circling normally. She could even see the blue crescent of the Earth if she concentrated.

But she was not looking for Earth. She directed her attention away from it, towards deep space.

Something was making its way in. They’d all felt it.

And she knew, today. She was going to see it.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

When it had last seen the red world, only the mountain peaks had been that bright, offensive color. Its land had otherwise been a glaring, lush green, and lightly purple oceans had covered the rest of its surface.

The shadow screeched. This one was dead just like the two other worlds it had encountered.

And active too. _three_ _guardians_. It suspected now there might be a whole contingent of nine.

What had its old adversary done?

As it circled the red world it looked past it at the blue crescent that had so many lights it had sensed them from beyond the asteroid belt.

It considered again, whether it should start with Sol. Perhaps waiting would be better. The dim light of Aili was only a hundred or so years on from here. It was weak, but it would likely be a much easier target. It glowed as two more bright pieces of its mass broke away towards the red world. It could let those it had left with the planets deal with these guardians. And then it would return.

As its lights approached the world though, something sprang up in their way. It screeched as the lights bounced back, away from a wall of orange fire between them and the dead world. Had the guardian upgraded their defenses?

Ah, but this was not the full planet shield that had cocooned the Giant one and the Blue one. This was simply a wall of fire, blazing between two small satellites.

What was this? The moons had buildings on them. It hissed, and screeched. Directing its asteroid close to one of the rocks.

The Guardian was here. It could sense her presence in the fire barrier. Not some natural shield erected by active worlds, but the purposeful work of a mortal.

It glowed pink and blue for a moment as it sent two more lights flying towards the shield. They screamed as it hit them, but they didn’t burn. They were strong enough.

 _“Leave_!” a voice very like its ancient adversary’s commanded. “ _Or in the name of Mars I’ll chastise you!”_ The fire shield burned even more brightly.

It screeched and shot a dark ball of energy at the shield, turning it to icy plumes of ash in a second. Its attack traveled on towards the planet, only to be stopped by the full-planet energy field that slammed up to block it, the red symbol of this Mars shining above it.

It directed the for lights it had created, and its asteroid, towards the closest moon – a puny, deformed thing with no purpose to it save the massive castle that grew up around its form.

 _Attack_! It told the lights and they obeyed, rushing the castle. Another fire shield came up but it let yet another energy blast loose. It extinguished the fire shield. The four lights rushed the castle. A muted explosion from inside spit chunks of burning debris out into space. The castle collapsed in on itself, ruined.

Then the shadow directed its four lights to rush the planet again and watched the other moon as they did. But no new shield came up now that its twin was destroyed. It shot a weak blast of energy at that remaining moon as its four lights descended below the Martian surface.

It watched a new fire shield come up around the other castle, holding only for a moment before its attack destroyed the castle and the moon along with it.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Pluto saw the ripple this time, just as she felt Mars power flare up. She found Rei’s timeline and dove into it, right into the present second.

She watched Phobos explode, then Deimos, and saw what must be the cause of the Time-Travel ripples.

An asteroid, smaller than her own castle’s moon. She saw the time ripples related to it begin to fade from the Time Dimension and reached out her arm into the fog and sand, grasping them.

They would not disappear. Not when she could finally see it. not when she could _finally_ find out these blasted things origin.

“I am the eternal Guardian of Time” she commanded them, the Garnet Rod glowing in her other hand. She trained it towards the ripples in time. “Show me where you come from.”

And then she felt the being in the asteroid look at her. She trained her power towards it. Did it really see her even from linear time?

Suddenly it reached out, through time. She gasped as its power broke through the time-stream, wrapping around her hand. The darkness rushed into her. She stumbled back.

“ _DEAD SCREAM!_ ” The planetoid attack charged at the breach in the time stream, clashing with a ball of black power.

And then her magenta power shattered, swallowed up by the dark mass of energy as it raced towards her hitting her in the gut. She toppled over. The Garnet Rod clattered from her hand as she collapsed among the fog and sand.

She stared at the being through the breach in time. Pupil-less grey eyes blink open on the asteroid. The being stared back.

And as it watched her, she could see for once, its timeline, its plan. Laid out in real time as the being made its final decision: _Sol first._

It would advance towards Earth, and it would face them. For none of the planets had power equal to its strength.

She saw the next energy blast coming and raised her hand.

“ _PLUTO PLANET POWER!”_ she shouted. Garnet colored power rushed towards the breach in time, stitching it quickly back together.

The new blast went off. Pluto gritted her teeth and concentrated. She must keep time _shut_.

The dark power slammed into her own. It was strong. It was cold. She felt the sailor symbol on her forehead burn.

And then it had gone. The breach was closed. She huffed. Bringing her gloved hand up to her head. Her vision swam. She pushed herself to her feet and took in the time realm. She checked linear time. The past was fine; the present, fine. The ripples from the intruder’s activity had once again disappeared.

And the future… She looked to Crystal Tokyo and grinned, sighing in relief. It was still a beautifully solid possibility. Instinctively, she stepped towards it, arms out. She usually left it alone for fear of running into a past or future version of herself. But today she could indulge the need to see it whole and shining.

As she stepped down the path towards it, the sands of time began to swirl up around her in a cyclone. The fog grew thick. She frowned and raised a hand over her face to protect it from the swirling sands. She trained her focus more firmly on Crystal Tokyo: the image of it, the thirtieth century, and the path to it. She waved her hands and banished the cyclone of swirling sand and fog. She stepped onto the path.

Immediately, a schism of grey appeared in the path under her feet, splitting away into the future and turning black as it did so. She reached her senses out towards it as the whole pathway under her feet turned grey. She access the timeline and stumbled back as the dark power rose up to greet her. She clutched her head and screamed. The sand and fog whipped up around her in an even more viscious funnel. Dark power rose up from the void between her and Crystal Tokyo. It tore into every previous timeline she’d ever mapped to that future, rendering every event undone, every year unplanned, every day into an uncharted mess of cold murky time.

Her head pounded. Her vision was blurry as she blinked her eyes open. She gasped as she took in Crystal Tokyo – still shining brightly in the far future. And then looked down. Before her eyes, the whole, greyed path to Crystal Tokyo crumbled away, leaving nothing but an eon of empty sand and fog that rushed into the void between her and the thirtieth century, Neo Queen Serenity, _Small Lady’s Future_.

Pluto stumbled out of the vicious cyclone and winced as the sands cut her face and arms. She reached out for Crystal Tokyo. She needed to get there. To see how they could get there.

She only managed one step towards the Time Doors before her knees gave out beneath her.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Soooooooo,” Makoto asked Ami as they walked to Hikawa Shrine that evening. It was past time their resident doctor in training got a descent meal. “Tell me about the date.”

“It was fine,” Ami shrugged. “I don’t know. I was waiting for a moment where I’d want to kiss him, but there really wasn’t one. It didn’t feel like a good date.”

“Well you _did_ go to the movie you’ve wanted to see since last month,” Makoto said. “Were you even looking at him?”

“N-no,” Ami flushed. “We went to coffee too.”

“Okay. And how’d that go?”

“It…was fine. I paid for myself. He seemed a bit miffed about that, but I told him ‘it’s antiquated to expect you to pay for everything, especially for a first date.’”

“And he got upset,” Makoto sighed. “I’m so glad Nephrite doesn’t know anything about these cultural expectations.”

“It didn’t really feel like a date after that,” Ami continued. “I mean he walked me back to my place, and we hugged, but,” she sighed. “I’m never any good at making these things work.”

“Hey now,” Makoto said, turning around as they reached Hikawa’s steps so she could look at Ami. “Do you actually like him?”

“I do!” Ami insisted. “He’s very cute – like Taiki.”

“ _Oh_ ,” Makoto nodded and smirked. “That hot huh?”

“Mhmm. Oh and he’s so smart! He build’s his own computers – so we have that to talk about,” Ami said and sighed. “But we’ve only gone on one date. And I guess now I’ve made it go badly.”

“You didn’t make anything go badly,” Makoto assured her. “Invite him on another date – not to the movies. What about a chess match in the park?”

“That would be fun – He did say he played.” Ami said, taking out her phone. “But what if I beat him very badly?”

“Well if he has a problem with you being smarter you’re definitely not gonna work,” Makoto teased as they reached the top of the stairs. “Any guy like that isn’t worth your time.”

“Well Daiki’s not like that, I think.” Ami said. “It’s just I don’t think anyone enjoys losing a competition on a date.” She took out her phone and shot off a text, letting out a squeak a moment later when it buzzed. “He said yes.” She looked up at Makoto, who whooped. “I have a second date.”

“Awesome!” Makoto said, giving her a high five. “Okay so this time, spare him a couple glances in between chess moves and _try_ kissing him.”

“What if I’m bad at it?”

Makoto snorted. “ _Nephrite_ is bad at kissing and that’s still quite fun.” She chuckled. “And _you_ weren’t enslaved to a daimon and then stuck in a rock for years. Trust me, you’ll be fine.”

“Nephrite’s bad at kissing?” Ami giggled.

“Mhmm,” Makoto whispered as she pushed open the door to the shrine. “Okay the first time he tried it…” but she trailed off, taking in the empty room: all the doors shut and nothing different from when she’d left for work that morning.

Even the dishes were still out from she and Rei’s very early breakfast. Rei’d said she’d clean them up…

“Rei!” Makoto called.

“The Fire Room door’s open,” Ami said from the doorway. And the two of them walked quickly out of the living quarters and along the building to the room that held the Great Fire. The door was indeed ajar. And Rei’s long shadow started at their feet and ended at the priestess herself – sitting very close to the flames.

“Rei?”

Normally the priestess would answer if called – even if only to snap that they were disturbing her meditation.

But today they got no response.

Trading glances, Makoto and Ami made their way across the room, kneeling on either side of Rei as the orange flames crackled and spit.

Her mouth was set in a thin line, her hands, clasped in front of her, trembled but did not move. Her eyes were blank.

And most unsettling, the symbol of Mars blazed brightly from her forehead.

Makoto shook her shoulder. “Rei come out of it!”

“She’s deep in a trance,” Ami said, checking the pulse at her wrist. “But her pulse is very fast.”

“She’s shaking,” Makoto said. “Rei!” she shook her again.

But nothing happened. Ami already had her communicator out.

“Minako,” she whispered. “We need you at the shrine.”

She knew Mina wore it at all times. They used their cell phones for everything else. But the communicators meant urgent sailor business. They meant drop everything and come.

She heard someone shouting on the other end, two someones, three, then Minako’s resolved voice crackled through the communicator: “I’m on my way.”

And as her transmission ended, Rei gasped, jerking away from the fire. Makoto caught her around the shoulders. Her teeth chattered. Her eyes were still wide. And they watched the Sailor symbol fade from her forehead. She looked at Ami.

“Minako?”

“She’s coming.”

Rei panted and put her hands over her face. “Phobos and Deimos castles are gone.” She said.

“Gone!” Makoto exclaimed.

“Blown up,” Rei said, shivering again. She moved her hands from her eyes and looked at both of them. “It’s stronger than I am.” She said. “We need to be stronger or.” She didn’t need to say anymore.

“Let’s wait for Mina.” Ami said. “I’ll call the others.”

Just then all their communicators buzzed to life.

“Meeting. ASAP. Penthouse.” Haruka declared.

And then Mina’s voice. “Stay put at the shrine guys. I’m bringing the car. Haruka – we’ll be there soon.”

“Did something else happen?” Rei asked. “Did Pluto see something?”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Michiru was on her way back from the pool when she sensed something _off_. She stopped in her tracks, leaning against the wall under the awning of a shop, and pulled the Aqua Mirror from her bag.

Haruka was fine. Hotaru was shopping with her father. Setsuna…

Setsuna was in the time dimension. Michiru shook her head. The Aqua Mirror could never get a reading there.

She tried anyway though. And all she got was the impression of swirling lavender sands.

And then the mirror went dark.

She stuffed it into her bag and hailed a cab to take her the rest of the way. “Get home.” She told Haruka through the communicator.

She ran around the back of the building when she arrived and transformed, easily making the leap up to the tenth floor, then the twentieth, and finally their own balcony at the very top. Neptune ran through the open slider and all the way across the penthouse to Setsuna’s office.

The Time Doors stood against the right wall. She knocked on them. “Pluto!” she shouted.

No answer.

She ran to the desk, pulled out the bottom drawer, and grabbed the time-key Setsuna kept there.

It glowed as she approached the doors and they swung open with twin groans, the old wood slow to move aside. She ran into the lavender fog. “Pluto!”

There was no sign of her. She squinted into the mist and sand, holding up the Aqua Mirror. She scanned it over the swirling mess, looking through the storm towards the ground of the time dimension.

The mirror spotted her hair first, the dark green tresses sprawled out across the floor, partially obscuring her face.

“Setsuna!” Neptune ran into the swirling fog. Setsuna grew clearer and clearer as she raced towards her. She knelt by her friend, hauled her upright, and pulled one of Setsuna’s arms around her shoulders. Damnit, why did she have to be tall? She looked around, seeing the impossibly thick fog and sand. She couldn’t see the doors. Pluto’d once said only she could navigate in this place.

“We’ll see about that,” Neptune said, holding up the mirror again. It didn’t see the doors either. But it did flash a warning red when she stepped towards the left.

“So not that way.” Neptune said, shuffling along with Setsuna. Step by step, warning by warning. She clutched the mirror and the time key close.

“ _Neptune!”_ Uranus shout drew her eye and she saw her silhouette through the storm of sand and fog. Uranus was standing in the doorway, holding out her arms. Neptune called for her to wait, lest all three of them get lost among the storm of fog and sand. She dragged Setsuna along towards Uranus. When they were finally within reach of the doorway, Uranus rushed to Setsuna’s other side. Together the two of them dragged her back into her office and over to her couch, setting Setsuna down on the black cushions.

“What the hell happened to you?” Uranus asked the unconscious Time Guardian as Neptune forced the heavy doors closed on the turbulent time realm.

“She was attacked outside of time,” Neptune worried.

Uranus crouched down beside Setsuna. She pulled out her communicator.

“Meeting. ASAP. Penthouse.”

Neptune vaguely heard Minako reply as she sat on the arm of the couch over Setsuna, staring into the Aqua Mirror. “She’ll be okay,” she sighed.

As she spoke, Setsuna stirred, her brows drew together as she grimaced.

“Chibiusa…” she murmured.

“Is on her way here with the others,” Uranus said, smoothing back her hair. She had deep shadows under her eyes. “Did the enemy do this?”

“Nhuh.” Setsuna nodded, looking around. “When am I?”

“It’s been a week.” Neptune informed her.

“Okay,” Setsuna tried and failed to sit up. Her eyes blinked closed. “Need to tell...”

“They won’t be here for at least another half hour,” Neptune told her. “Rest,” she frowned at Setsuna. “You look like you need it.”

Setsuna blinked heavily. And sighed, her eyes once more falling shut.

She was asleep a few minutes later when she stiffened, apparently from a dream. “Don’t leave,” she mumbled.

“We’re not,” Uranus assured her, reaching out and clasping one of Setsuna’s hands in hers. She ran her thumb across her too-pale knuckles and looked up at Neptune.

She’d set the mirror down on her knee and was watching Uranus and Setsuna, staring at their hands with a thoughtful smile.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Just as Michiru’d predicted, the inner senshi arrived on their balcony, battle-ready, just a half hour later. And then Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon banged on the front door moments later.

Only then did Neptune leave Setsuna and let them in.

“What happened?” Sailor Moon demanded as she joined the inner senshi in the living room.

She told them, and then told them again when Saturn rushed in off the balcony ten minutes later. And then Mars began her own story – of witnessing the attack on her world. Mid-way through it, Uranus returned with a determined, albeit tired-looking Pluto.

“This enemy’s very strong,” the Time Guardian confirmed. “Once more, it’s decided to attack.” The Time Guardian bit her lip and stared at the Garnet rod. “I have realized why I couldn’t see it. It is a being from _outside_ our realm. Thus it has no known origin or timeline for me to follow. How that’s possible I know not.” She looked at all of them, lingering longest on Chibi Moon. “It’s difficult to predict this being’s future. Likely because of that.” Pluto shook her head. “It felt as strong or more as the Sailor Animates.”

A heavy stillness settled over the room. Uranus shoulders drooped. Saturn huddled closer to Neptune. Mercury and Venus traded nervous glances. Jupiter pounded her fist into the back of the empty couch. Mars reached out to grasp Venus hand. Moon squeezed Chibi Moon’s shoulders just as Neptune hugged Saturn close. Luna and Artemis drew closer together on the couch.

“Then we need to find out how to beat it,” Moon said.

“Exactly how are we supposed to do that?” Mars snapped. “Given how hard it is for me to even see it?”

“Regardless we’re running out of time,” Luna said. “It’s almost here.”

“You have trouble seeing it alone,” Venus thought. “What about together?”

“Combine our powers of perception?" Pluto frowned. “That wouldn’t help us see it. As far as I can tell, the only time I’ve ever predicted its movements is when it made a decision in linear time.”

“We wouldn’t need to see it,” Neptune said. “What if we just search for how to beat it?”

“It’s…” Pluto sighed. “Worth a try.” And she beckoned to Neptune and Mars, holding out her hands. “And Saturn.”

The four of them clasped hands in the middle of the penthouse living room as the others looked on. The four senshi's tiaras faded, revealing the blazing symbols of their planets. They watched as red, blue, purple, and maroon power glowed around the four senshi, merging together high over their heads until they formed a magical plane that looked as solid as glass.

Saturn’s symbol glowed over the sheet of magic as it all the colors merged together, creating the image of space, and of nine very small worlds. They recognized the Earth’s moon as a bright, white pearl.

The six onlookers watched the vision of the solar system. The Moon became impossibly brighter in the blink of an eye. Then the Earth grew bright: and Mars and Jupiter and Venus, all the way out until all nine worlds shown with an impressive degree of planet power. 

Then Neptune’s symbol blazed on the image overhead and they zoomed in on the deep blue planet. Neptune sighed in relief and they watched as the vision above zoomed in closer to the distant world.

Mercury squinted, stepping closer

Something had just splashed in Neptune’s waters. There it was and again!

 _Neptune has life_? Mercury thought, marvelling along with the others.

Then the symbol of Mars shown on the vision overhead and they all watched as flames lit-up across it, obscuring the blue planet.

The flames had grown up to consume the entire plane of magic when the steel flash of a blade sliced through the flames. It banished them from the vision and the whole room gasped. They recognized the blade: dark steel with a golden handle and distinctive red jewel set into the hilt...

"The Holy Sword," Venus whispered, hand clenching into a fist as if to grasp the real blade. Just as someone in the vision was. They saw the sword-wielder's orange nails where they wrapped around the blade in a two handed grip, giving it another swing.The woman in the vision faced away from them at first - but they all recognized her hip length blond hair tied up with a bright red bow.

“That’s me,” Venus murmured. “I think.”

For the figure wasn’t Venus. Instead they were wearing billowing orange pants that gathered together at the ankles and a matching, form fitting, halter top complete with more jewels and necklaces than any one person should have been able to pull off. But this vision of Venus managed it with aplomb. Then all of them saw something else: the symbol of Venus blazing bright on the vision’s forehead. She raised The Holy Sword again.

Around the vision of Venus, all the planets faded into view. And then around the planets – they all gasped – similar figures to this different Venus appeared. There was Neo Queen Serenity above the moon, her crescent moon blazing, and there was Mars in her own elegant red gown and Neptune in blue and Pluto in green, purpled trimmed robes - all with their planets' symbols visible on their foreheads.

“Your Silver Millennium selves.” Luna said as the vision over their heads faded. The four future seers dropped hands and turned towards the onlookers standing behind the couched.

“I think I have an idea,” Artemis said. “I remember Queen Serenity once said you all had the potential to be as powerful as she was.”

“What?” Mercury stuttered. “B-but she had the Silver Crystal”

“At the time I think I believed she was exaggerating,” Luna conceded. “And Artemis and I,” she nodded to the white cat. “Assumed your current, Eternal forms were that final power level.”

“Well how do we get more powerful?” Uranus demanded.

“I think I know,” Pluto said, leaning back against the wall. “When I saw the enemy from the time dimension, I heard it speak in a way.” She looked out at all of them. “It decided to attack us now because it believed us weak – it believed all our planets dead and thus, weakened.”

“But in that vision they were all clearly quite bright.” Neptune said. “And you all saw that splash. There was something alive on Neptune.”

“Or maybe there will be,” Pluto said, closing her eyes as she thought. “Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, and even you, Chibi Moon,” she nodded to the smallest senshi. “Have been able to tap into the wealth of power within the Earth and the Moon when you most needed too.”

“When I take my Serenity form,” Sailor Moon murmured.

“Exactly,” Pluto nodded. “Perhaps we’ve taken for granted that we can’t do the same.”

“What would be stopping us?” Jupiter demanded.

“It... could be our connection to our planets right?” Mercury said. “I mean – of course Endymion and Serenity can access the Earth and Moon’s powers. They live there, they’ve been able to bond with them. They can sense when something’s wrong.” Mercury shook her head. “I’ve never felt that kind of deep connection to my own world – and I don’t remember my first life.”

“So what?” Venus said. “We have to go soul searching and connect with our old worlds or something.”

“Or you need to visit,” Artemis said. “Sailor Moon’s connection to the moon grew a lot stronger after you all journeyed there. It’s possible if you went to visit your own, you could awaken them and perhaps regain your memories.”

“And have enough power to kick this thing out of orbit,” Uranus pounded her fists together.

“Would we all go alone though?” Neptune worried. “If this new enemy is stronger and roaming the solar system we don’t want to meet it alone.”

“And if we wait it’ll get to Earth,” Pluto shook her head. “I see no immediate problems with that plan. Granted I apparently have trouble seeing this enemy, but still,” she nodded to the cats. “If it’s all we have...”

“It would be the best way possible for you all to try regaining old memories and powers,” Luna said. “Further, we could get you all close to your planets if you teleported from the control room. We’d use the computer to direct your travel in separate directions. You’d all end up at the satellite castles or,” Luna nodded to Mars. “close to them.”

“And then what?” Haruka asked. “Explore until we find anything interesting.”

“Or one interesting thing in particular,” Artemis said. And his crescent beam lit up, projecting in the air overhead a picture of the crystal obelisk that sat outside the Moon Castle. “Each planet has a central point where senshi can channel its magic through. Even non-senshi have been able to use the spots in the past.

“Most are crystals,” Luna said as Artemis showed them another picture of a pink, hollow, crystal column and then a room of sky blue and light yellow stalagmites surrounding one giant, multifaceted crystal. “Some were other things. Pluto has an hour glass full of the time sands,” and the image appeared from Luna’s own crescent before she and Artemis let their memories fade.

“Find those,” Artemis said, “And I bet your memories will follow.”

“Alright,” Venus nodded. “Then I guess: who’s up for a field trip.”

“Tonight?” Mars asked.

“Er…no tomorrow.” Venus said, "Then we’ll have a whole day.”

“Are we going to visit the Moon Kingdom too?” Chibi Moon asked. “I’ve never been.”

“You _haven’t_.” Sailor Moon stared down at her and frowned. “I think I need to have a talk with Future Me,” she muttered. “Yeah – we’ll go. Maybe,” she looked at Luna. “Could I remember more about Serenity’s life too?”

“Completely possible,” Luna said.

“Then lets do it,” Sailor Moon decided.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Souichi Tomoe had just barely set his cell phone down after a disappointing call from Hotaru. (she was staying with the Sailor Scouts on a weeknight _and_ calling in sick from school?) when the phone was ringing again. He was about to answer with a snap, assuming it might be one of Hotaru’s sailor guardians, when he noticed the caller id.

What was Ikuko Tsukino doing calling him this late?

“Hello?” He asked.

“I’m sure you’ve heard by now,” Ikuko sighed. “Our girls are going on another mission tomorrow.”

“Is that what they’re doing,” Souichi sighed. Hotaru had been evading the topic of approaching trouble for weeks now. “What mission?”

“They didn’t say,” Ikuko lamented. “Listen though, given they may be needed as senshi again, well some of their other parents and I thought we really didn’t want to all know and still have to cope with their fighting alone.”

“Are you suggesting a support group?” He asked.

“Mhmm. A few of us met two years ago in the months before they all…came back. And it helped. It really did.”

“I… that might be nice actually.” He imagined meeting the parents of Hotaru’s other guardians. Maybe ask them what _they_ thought of their barely twenty-year-old children raising an eleven-year-old. “Where?”

“Hikawa Shrine,” Ikuko said. “We were going to meet there around four.”

He checked his schedule. Tomorrow was a Friday. He could cancel the teacher’s meeting. “I’ll be there.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

 

 


	3. Inner Sol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a homeworld fieldtrip!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word to the wise: reading Pax Lunae will mean you get a lot more out of the Moon segment. But dont worry ;) if you haven't read, it just means you'll solve the Mystery at the same pace Sailor Moon does.

Inner Sol

Shingo sighed, readjusting his sitting position on the railing of the shrine’s porch and taking the telescope from Ms. Mizuno away from his eye. He stared up at the early evening sky. It was one of those rare days you could see the crescent of the moon well before twilight fell.

 _I can’t believe Usagi and Chibiusa are really up there_ , he thought.

They’d learned from Mr. Hino and Ms. Mizuno right after they’d introduced them to Souichi Tomoe and the Ainos. Apparently Rei and Ami had been the only ones to tell their parents _where_ the new mission would take place.

He’d slipped out of the meeting after they’d all started in on their worries. His mom could come up with so _many_. It definitely took away from how _cool_ the senshi were. Like couldn’t they all just appreciate that Usagi could save the whole freaking world without mentioning the danger for like, one second.

He heard a shrill voice exclaim something loudly from within the shrine and turned, the door had been slid open, and the Ainos quiet daughter, still in her school uniform like him, slipped outside. Her eyes lit up when she saw him on the railing and she walked on tip-toe across the porch.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“They won’t hear you,” Shingo chuckled, holding out his hand. “I’m Shingo,”

“Your mom said,” the girl spoke in a rush, _just like Minako,_ he thought as she shook his hand. “I’m Kara. Sorry I didn’t say anything to you earlier. I’m so glad you’re still here. I was worried you’d gone home and I’d have to sit through them all alone.” She rolled her eyes and hopped up onto the railing, reaching into the pocket of her green skirt. “Biscuit?”

“Sure,” He said, taking the treat. “And no, I always used to stick around for these. You learn interesting stuff.” He looked back up at the moon. “But I hate listening to mom and dad worry.”

“That’s sorta why I snuck out.” Kara said, staring up at the moon with him. “Mum’s arguing with everyone. I think she thought she’d come here tonight and convince everyone else that they needed to stop Mina and them from fighting.”

Shingo snorted “like that would ever work – uh.” He glanced quickly over at her. “Not anything against your mom.”

Kara giggled. “Don’t worry. I know how she gets.” She shook her head. “She actually told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to you. Seems to think you’d convince me to be a Senshi too.”

“I’m not – and that’s not how it works.”

“I know,” Kara exclaimed as they shared a laugh. “But try telling her that.”

They were quiet for a few minutes longer, staring at the moon.

“Do you think they’ll be alright?” Kara asked finally. “I mean, I look at Venus and I feel like she’s just indestructible but.”

“I know what you mean,” Shingo said. “Sailor Moon’s always been like – amazing.” He shook his head. “I still have trouble believing _she’s_ Usagi…but yeah.” He said. “They’ll be alright. I know they worry,” he jerked his thumb towards the shrine where they could still hear the parents muted arguments. “But you just…gotta believe in them.”

“I do,” Kara said.

“Here,” Shingo said, passing her the telescope. “Wanna see if you can spot them?”

“Oh yeah!” Kara snagged the telescope and looked up at the crescent of the moon. Pity it was still to bright out to see Venus. “Woah – that’s a building!”

“Where!” Shingo demanded. “I didn’t see one.”

“Over there!” Kara pointed as she scooched closer to him and passed him the telescope. “See.”

“Woah.” Shingo muttered. That was, indeed, the outline of a _huge_ building right up near the edge of the moon. He could even see glints of other colors around the mostly-white building. Still, no sign of Usagi. “Cool,”

“Give it back – I wanna see more.” Kara said, taking the telescope from him.

It was as they were watching that they noticed the moonlight growing brighter. Spreading from the palace until the Moon emitted its own light, rather than the sun’s reflection. It turned the sunset into near daylight. Kara gasped, barely noticing Shingo steal the telescope back from her. She watched as greens and pinks and blues followed the surge of light across the moon’s surface.

Shingo gaped as he watched through the telescope. The Mare Serenitas filled up with water, its shores sprouted fields of grass. And all over the moon, he could see the pinks and whites and reds of flowers.

He’d just bet they were roses – Usagi’s favourite.

“What just happened.” They said together as the slider door was slammed open.

“ _Kara_!” Hikari Aino shrieked. “I told you not to run off!”

“By god,” Hideki muttered, taking in the moon as the other parents crowded in the doorway. “What is that?”

And they all stared at the bright moon overhead. Ikuko and Kenji came up behind Shingo, placing their hands on his shoulders.

They would not notice until much later, the faint crescent moons that had appeared on the insides of their wrists.

“What did Usagi just do?” Ikuko whispered.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Mercury spent hours waiting for Mariner’s scans to complete before descending to the planet’s surface. There was nothing amiss. Whatever evil had entered the Sol System, it had not reached her world yet.

She checked the Mercury computer as she descended through the steamy, thin atmosphere. She’d land quite close to the magical focal point Luna had talked about.

Her boots kicked up a cloud of dust as she landed that bloomed taller than her head and rolled out across the barren Mercurian surface in all directions. She took in the many, impact craters pummelled deep into the surface and her heart felt suddenly heavy.

 _What did this look like during the Silver Millennium_? She thought _Is this the damage a 1,000 years of neglect can do?_

Ignoring for the moment how she could even stand here, or breathe for that matter, Mercury activated her visor and flipped open the Mercury computer, scanning the surface. She was on the sliver of the world held in twilight now. She’d need to walk towards the daylight side.

The craters were endless, and Sol’s light reflected off them with such intensity she was left squinting through her goggles. This close, the giant form of the sun dominated the sky, and shone so brightly Mercury had trouble looking towards it. She kept her eyes on the computer. She was very close…

Her feet hit a loose stone as she reached the edge of a large, shallow crater. She looked in and gaped.

It had been stunning years ago when they’d seen the ruins of the Moon Kingdom.

It was an entirely more shocking thing to see them on her own world…

The crumbling remains of white and grey stone columns dotted around the edges of the crater, the dust of many others filling the inside. And along with them were iridescent pieces of metal and glass, shattered in the places there once might have been buildings. She slid down into the crater and bend to pick up one, large shard.

 _It was a solar panel!_ She realized as the Mercury goggles confirmed the make up of the material. She looked around. There must have been so _many_ of them in this…had it been a city? Surely it must have, she considered as she took in the dust and remaining pieces of old stones. There were even flattened, sparce areas that might have been roads.

She walked along them, scanning around. The largest old road lead towards one point on the highest edge of the crater that had a high concentration of broken columns and shards of glass. She walked quickly towards it, dust flying up under her feet.

Her figure cast an impossibly long shadow over the building as she reached it, noticing the doorway that lead into the rock. As she entered, the dented, domed ceiling and all the smashed windows caught her eye. Somehow, it seemed, this building had survived until years buried under stone.

It was surely the castle. The elaborate tiling with her planet’s symbol suggested as much. The focal point was meant to be here.

She ventured further in, Mercury computer guiding her with a long-unused map through the crumbling, dark halls. She used the light of her tiara to light the way as she walked away from the sunlight.

At last, she stepped out of the hall into another, far less damaged, domed chamber. Even most of the columns were intact, covered in peculiar blue vines.

 _Was this a tree_? Mercury thought as she looked around. Luna said it might be. She reached out to touch the vines.

Suddenly her visor began flashing, an overload of data racing across the screen as the Mercury computer lit up, beeping furiously. She jumped back as the vine under her fingertips glowed and hummed, and all around the domed chamber, the walls began to move.

She stared as each curved tile from the floor to the start of the dome slid away, revealing wall-to-wall panels of buttons, keyboards with ancient symbols, and even three large screens that pulled away from the walls and hovered around the center.

“ _Princess Athena,”_ the low, computerized voice intoned. “ _Welcome to Mercury Central Command._ ”

Princess Athena…

She gaped, walking into the center of the room and turning round and round, taking in all the equipment, the screens, the glowing blue vines ( _wires!)_

“Hello” she said. “Who are you.”

“ _I am Intelligence 1J – I have waited very long for you_.”

“I didn’t know you were here,” Mercury said, eyes racing back and forth as she took in not just the room but the still running data flood rushing across her visor. “Did you…create the Lunar Computer.”

 _“All digital processors originated from Mercury,”_ the computer said. “ _Lunar Computer mark 1 was commissioned during the second quarter of Pisces, Sol year: 4,233,510,114._

Mercury continued to stare.

“ _Records show the subsequent development of the Lunar mark II. Work on Mark III discontinued.”_

 _“_ Why?”

“ _Reason ci-ci-”_ the screens overhead lit up with static. “ _Cited: Trade Embargo.”_

“With the Moon Kingdom?” Mercury murmured. “Wh…nevermind that,” she shook her head _Focus. You can always learn more later._ “Tell me,” she commanded the AI. “Where is Mercury’s central magical access point.”

“ _Scanning. Ambient Planetary Energy Contact Point: zero meters. Zero centimeters. Zero millimetres.”_

Mercury looked down at her feet. The tile floor around her was a light blue circle, with more vivid blue tiling down the center forming the Mercury symbol.

 _I’m standing on it._ Mercury realized, kneeling on the floor. She touched her right hand to the center of the symbol. “ _Mercury Planet Power._ ”

The symbol under her hand lit up along with the jewel in her tiara. And she stood and stepped back as the tiles of the Mercury symbol fell away, the floor in the center of the room opening up.

She gaped at the husk of a tree that rose up through the floor – its whithered roots the same glowing blue as the wires that twined around the many columns.

When it had fully risen out of the floor she noticed heavy computer harddrive beneath its roots and the broken metal parts in the center of the tree.

 _“_ Is it dead?” she asked the AI

“ _Estimated planetary life force: 41%.”_ The AI announced.

She could see, scanning with the visor. The tree had certainly sustained visible damage but her own instruments suggested the computer had suffered a significant amount as well.

As she reached out to touch the tree’s glowing roots her view of the visor and the command center faded as a kind of vision she’d never had herself rushed into her mind.

_The command center was bright and bustling with life, palace residents tapping away at the many screens and rushing back and forth between this and other rooms._

_But she was not paying attention to them. She reached out both her small hands and put them on the vibrant trunk of the ancient tree, marvelling at the computer-organic hybrid. She climbed into the center of the tree and spun around, gazing up at the Sol-light that blazed through the high, tinted windows._

_“Athena!” Her father’s voice boomed and the sunlight blocked his face as he stood in front of the tree, reaching in to lift her out of it. “That’s quite powerful magic there.”_

_“But you said its mine!” Athena said, reaching back towards the magnificent tree as her father set her on the floor. “I can control it, I promise.”_

_“No one can control the power in that computer on their own – or even with others.” Her father laughed, shaking his head as he reached for something out of her view – a child-sized blue helmet with its own visor just like the best technicians got to wear. “I’ve said, as a Guardian, you are uniquely suited to channelling its power. But you need help – with this,” he lifted the helmet onto her head. And she gasped at the sets of data she could already see pouring over the screen. “You’ll be more powerful than you could ever dream…_

Mercury gasped as the vision faded, her vision momentarily dizzy. She looked around. The room was dimming. The blue light from the vines and the tree flickering.

“ _Initiating Emergency De-activation,”_ the AI said as the room darkened.

“Wait!” Mercury said, grabbing one of the trees roots. More of her power rushed into it, briefly rebooting the super computer.

“ _System Status”_ The AI announced. “ _Files 65% intact. Data core damaged. Extent: indeterminate. Power sources unidentified.”_

She thought of the demolished solar panels outside and realized it was only her own power that had woken the computer. She needed more data. “Where is the data core?”

“ _Beneath the organic component._ ” She reached under the tree’s heavy, old roots and found a latch in the computer box. Using the Mercury computer and the visor, she extracted the cube of circuits and processors, frowning at the advanced technology.

 _I need to repair it_ , she decided, standing and checking the time on the computer. She would need to contact Luna to teleport her back to the command center soon. She was meant to wait her for them.

“Mercury here,” she said into her communicator. “I’ve found the magical contact point. Ready when everyone else is.”

“Standing by for Uranus,” Artemis voice crackled through the device.

She nodded, closing the Mercury computer and her visor and taking in the ancient room with her own eyes. If only the sunlight could still stream through the high windows.

As she scanned the room she noticed something bright blue tucked away above one of the computer panels.

A blue helmet, just like in her vision. She rushed across the room and reached for it.

_“You’ll be more powerful than you could ever dream…”_

She held it carefully, looking between it and the computer’s data core.

Was it really possible.

_What if I could be as powerful as Sailor Moon…_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Venus coughed as she descended from Magellan Castle. Venus atmosphere was heavy, cloudy, and _gross_. She’d been prepared to smell sulphur but not this cloying… _rot_.

She kept a hand over her mouth as she crashed down on the surface. Gasping as she caught the active lava flow from one of the mighty peaks off to her left.

The whole plane under her feet rumbled and she struggled to keep her footing.

Artemis had said to be prepared for some volatility but _jeez_ you’d think the planet of Love could come up with a better homecoming.

Beneath the heavy clouds though, her coughing dissipated and she carried on across the Venesien surface, constantly glancing all around.

Magellan hadn’t sensed any unusual activity but that didn’t mean there _wasn’t_ any. After all what did Magellan know anyways? She’d had to hit the hard drive on the junky computer like five times before it had started to work.

She traversed the diverse surface as small tremors shook their way up through the rock and dirt. This terrain was mostly flat, and she was headed away from the largest mountains. Which was good. If Artemis had told her she needed to climb up those active volcanos to get to the magic-point-thing, she’d have made his lazy butt go instead.

Her inner monologue trailed off as she noticed the drop off through the haze of orange smog, and further along the cliff, a tall, narrow column spiralling up towards the clouds. She slowed as she approached the edge, directed her attention towards the strange structure, and gasped.

She hadn’t expected the castle to be _intact_.

“I _lived there_.” She marvelled.

It was marble – but unlike any marble she’d ever seen on Earth. The white rock was split through with swirls of magenta and bronze, forming a citadel with tall, intricate stained glass windows that spiralled up towards the tallest tower – right in the center of the castle. It was build into a cliff, the outer grounds bore the empty trellises of long-dead vineyards and the pathways to the castle and around it were paved with shells of every make and color.

 _Where did they come from_ , she thought, taking in the extensive grounds.

It wasn’t until she noticed the slopes of glass trailing down into a deep crater and the docks extended out past it that she realized her castle had been built on the beach. She skidded down the steep glass slopes that might once have been sand until her feet hit the cracked dirt at the bottom of the crater (this too covered in patches of glass).

She was standing at the bottom of an ancient sea. She gulped.

Artemis had said Venus magical core breached the surface in the middle of a liquid body.

Had it disappeared along with the water?

She walked across the long-dead ocean, hands clenching and unclenching into fists as she took in the cracked glass, the crumbling coral, and even many fossilized bones cracking beneath her boots.

She was startled by the first drop of saline that trailed down her face. She reached up to rub it away with the heel of her hand. But a second was close to follow it. And soon she could not stop the riveletts of tears that trailed down both sides of her face.

How beautiful had this world _been_ when it was alive.

For all her snark to Artemis about having to search a _whole planet_ for one silly magical place, she recognized Venus magical point as soon as she stepped onto it.

The fissure in the bed-rock formed a symbol of Venus no bigger than her palm. She knelt by it and dug her fingers into the crack in the ground. She sniffed.

“Is this my fault,” she asked. “Did my being gone so long do this?”

the Venesien rock was hot under her fingers as she traced the symbol of her world.

 _I don’t understand,_ Venus thought as tears continued to trail down her face. _This is sad…but why does it_ hurt _?_

As she knelt in the dirt, one of her tears dripped off of her chin and fell into the fissure in the ground.

Under her hand, the ancient symbol in the stone lit up a rich orange.

 _“Because I made you.”_ A great voice with the might of an avalanche echoed in her mind. She fell back into the dirt as the column of orange light shot up into the sky, engulfing her along with it. “ _You have always felt my pain_.”

She gasped as the same orange light that had leapt free of the planet coated her, and her vision too was overwhelmed by the orange light.

_She was warm and cozy, cradled by the smooth shell, just big enough to fit her. It cocooned her as it drifted up to the surface, warmed by the boiling waters beyond. She breathed in the rich, salty air as the shell’s top sprang open at the surface. But she didn’t awaken yet, content to curl up even smaller in her shell, lulled by the gentle waves of the Boiling Sea._

_She knew the boiling sea, though who had told her she was not sure._

_It must have been the Great one, who even now filled her with light and peace and warmth._

_“You must awaken now,” the ancient voice crooned. The first voice she’d ever heard. “You have eyes with which to see.”_

_See. What was see? She wanted to know very badly._

_And it was cooler now, the water carrying her not quite so hot and the waves not quite so gentle. She felt a shock rush through her as her shell bumped something and cried out._

_“Shhh…” a new voice – softer, higher. It gave a little gasp and she felt big, warm hands pick her up and hold her close to something warmer than her shell. And softer. (this was a someone, she realized.) She curled closer to the new person and finally opened her eyes._

_“So blue..” the person murmured. Their own eyes were a rich brown and they sparkled as they gazed down at her. She liked this person._

_“Hello,” the person with the brown eyes and the soft voice grinned, rocking her gently like the water had. “My name is Dione,” they said. “And I think…if the Goddess wills it,” they giggled. “I get to be your mother.”_

_Mother. She thought of the great ancient voice who had whispered to her before she reached the shore. She knew her mother. The powerful planet…_

_But she supposed this warm, soft person would work just as well. She yawned. Her eyes drifting shut once more._

_“I’m going to call you Aphrodite,” Dione whispered as she drifted off._

Venus gasped, and looked around, grasping at the rich ground beneath her hands. The orange column of light was fading. “Come back!” she shouted, scrambling towards it and digging both hands into the fissure as the power faded. “Show me more!”

It didn’t. The symbol in the ground remained as dark as when she’d first happened upon it.

But the planet….she could still feel it. Even more than before now: all the heavy poison in the atmosphere, the cracked and barren soil, the overflows of sulphur and the restless tectonic plates that ground together deep beneath the ground.

And she could feel the heart of the planet too – bright and hot and bearing the same feeling of the ancient voice in her ear and the power that rushed into her every time she transformed.

It hurt so, but it felt joy too. And she along with it, filling her until it burst free as a high, loud laugh.

Venus was happy to see her.

“Alright, I’m here.” She said, covering the symbol in the ground with her hand once more. “Gimme the power up – come on.”

But it did not.

Sailor Venus growled. “Come on: I found the magic I got a memory. I need the rest – that’s how this works.”

Clearly it wasn’t, even trying to flick her remaining tears into the crack in the ground did nothing. She pouted and took out her communicator.

“I found it Artemis,” Venus sighed. “It did…something.”

“That’s great Venus,” Artemis said. “Any new powers?”

She found herself distracted by the great, dormant planet she could _feel_ as if it were part of herself and shook her head to clear it. _“_ Sort of.”

“We’ll probably learn more once you get back,” Luna advised. “Sit tight. We’re waiting to hear from the others.”

“Gotcha,” She said, before switching over to another connection. “Maaaaaaars…”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

She’d checked her castles first. The Deimos computer had been blown to bits. Its counterpart on Phobos had been little but dust and exposed wires. Not even enough survived for the hologram of Guardian Mars to come out to greet her.

So she descended to the planet’s surface with some hesitance. She _knew_ something had breached the thin atmosphere though she had not been able to tell what. They’d been bright and dark and she’d been too distracted by the larger dark energy to get a reading.

She touched down on a mountain-top, looking down upon an old crater or a sea. Her feet crunched on the thin ice and snow as she walked across the narrow peak.

Mars was more orange than red this close, though the iron, red haze was obvious in the air below her. The mountain was so tall, she realized, it rose above the Martian atmosphere.

She saw the ruins of the castle about halfway below her, spread out along a wide plateau and leapt down towards it.

Find the magical point. See if she found anything. And get out before whatever the enemy had left made an appearance.

She approached the ruins slowly, sticking to rock face.

The Palace must have been wide and low, she determined from the extent of the rock and burnt wood spread out across the plane. The lack of debris piles pointed her to its low height.

Her fingers traced over an unexpected groove in the rock – and a smooth curved stone. She turned around and stared.

The statue behind her was enormous – carved twenty feet up in the rock. And even though the musculature had been chipped and the face ground away by wind and ice, there was no mistaking the twin swords crossed before their chest.

Or the belt of skulls around their waist.

“Gross,” Sailor Mars shied away from the statue, looking down the rockface towards the castle ruins.

A whole line of statues was carved into the rock leading up the the building’s entrance – all warriors with different crests upon their breast and with weapons drawn in their hands. Some, she noted, were pairs, and they stared out over the cliff with their weapons pointed at eachother. One particularly grim sculpture showed a boy and girl (surely the had to be since they were just half the height of the other statues) with twin knives pressed to each other’s throats.

She didn’t look too closely at the rest, walking quickly up to the palace doors. She conjured a Flame Sniper and held the flaming arrow ready to strike as she stepped through the dark doorway.

But nothing appeared from the empty halls of the crumbling castle. She traversed the halls, winding her way towards the middle. The magical point, Luna’d told her, would be there.

She purposefully didn’t look too closely at the remaining decorations, not after seeing the gruesome statues that had lined the castle walkway.

The center of the castle was the most intact, and so it was with ease that she recognized the gilded golden doors. All the other doors in the castle were crumbling stone or rusted metal.

Gold was new.

Keeping Flame Sniper lit, she took in the symbol of Mars on the handle-less doors. _“Mars Planet Power,”_ she whispered. And the red beam of light shot from her tiara and into the symbol, lighting it up bright red. The ancient doors groaned as they swung open.

She froze in the doorway, taking in the long extinguished stone hearth where a great fire had surely once burned, and behind the hearth, yet another giant statue.

Of a Sailor.

The fuku looked like her first one – though with no stripes along the collar. And the whole statue had been made with shining, obsidian stone. The only difference the rubies that formed the sailor symbol on the statue’s forehead.

She was kneeling, both hands curled around the base of a spear that she held high above her head.

And skewered onto the top – were five intricately carved heads.

She felt her heart pounding in her ears as she walked into the courtyard, towards the hearth and the imposing statue.

_“Sparta” the wizened voice of the priest said as he pointed her to it. “The Capital’s namesake. She was the first one to light the Martian Fire. She is said to have culled entire tribes for their greed Our honor code – she wrote every line.”_

She turned away from the statue only to face another, diagonally across the circle from her. Yet another obsidian statue: softly chiselled pigtails framed a face covered by the sailor’s gloved hands. Her fuku looked closer to Mars’ Super form Her collar was torn near the bow, cut by the knife tip that pierce her chest, the hilt buried deep in her back.

“ _Rema_ ” _the elderly man said as he shook his head. “Built on the day she would have come of age – mind you sentiments had dried up by then.”_

_“What happened to her?” she asked, shivering as his hand tightened on her shoulder._

_“She was a fool,” The old man answered, turning her round to the other side of the courtyard. “And this – ” he pointed to the smooth slab of stone with “Areisa” carved into the base. “Is where your own will go when you reach 16. You show a lot of promise,” he beamed at her. “We’ll see a statue of you here greater even than Sparta’s.”_

She whipped around and screamed, loosing her grip on Flame Sniper. It soared across the courtyard, flaming arrow stabbing into the face of the last statue. She fell to her knees as she took in the obsidian likeness of her face cracked on the ground.

 _“Areisa_ ” the base of the statue said. And above the base the arm of the first body had been carved to rest over the side. It’s face was turned up, towards the sky. Just like the seven other faces of the seven other bodies piled atop eachother and pinned by a red, high-heeled shoe.

She stared at the rest of the statue – taking in her old uniform and the bow and arrow in her hands as she stood atop the corpses.

“That’s not me,” she muttered, scrambling back until she slammed into the empty hearth, bits of frozen charcoal spread inside. “That’s _not_ me!”

Her communicator chirped. “Maaaaaaaaars,” Venus voice filtered through. She grasped the communicator in both hands. Holding it close.

“Mi-Venus,” she corrected herself.

The team leader though didn’t notice. “Did you find anything yet?”

She looked out at the face of her statue: its eyes narrowed and mouth unsmiling.

_That wasn’t me!_

“Nothing,” she said into the communicator. “It looks like there was some ancient fire here once, but its dead now. No…” she swallowed. “No memories.”

“Have you tried crying on it?”

“I’m not crying!” She wasn’t right. She brushed her fingers across her face. No.

“Oh no I meant just like… cry on the magic point.”

“Water and fire don’t work that way Venus!” she snapped.

“Geez someone’s impatient,” Venus teased. “And I know that but it worked for me.”

“What happened?” she asked, maybe she could keep Minako talking until the others had finished their work.

“Weeeeellll it was _really_ cool…” She tilted her head back as she listened to Venus and stared up at the hazy red sky, away from the bloody statues.

Whomever Areisa had been, she wasn’t her.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Woah,” Chibi Moon breathed, staring at the bright white columns and domes of the ancient moon castle.

“It is really pretty,” Sailor Moon said, walking behind her down the promenade. All the columns were intact and the walkway and even the flower beds though nothing grew, no fountain cascaded down into the moat that lined the walk. The moat itself was dry. “Can’t say its very impressive though, next to Crystal Tokyo.”

“It’s really impressive,” Chibi Moon assured her. “I mean everyone always says in the stories it was beautiful but wow…” she whirled around and stared at the bright blue form of the Earth just peaking over the horizon. “This is so cool!”

“You’ve been out in space before,” Sailor Moon remarked dryly.

“Yeah but last time doesn’t count I was sorta distracted by the huge black hole!” Chibiusa exclaimed, walking backwards down the promenade as she stared at the Earth. “It’s so beautiful – I can’t believe you lived here.”

“It’s hard for me to believe too,” Sailor Moon sighed. “I have…some of Serenity’s memories. But not all. And most of those are about Endymion.”

“What was it like?” Chibi Moon asked, staring at the columns along the walkway and the dried up moat and the vast expanse of empty, lunar surface trying to imagine what had been here…

“It was covered in flowers.” Sailor Moon smiled. “Not roses, those never grew here. _That_ I recall because I loved seeing them on Earth. It was where I met Endymion. I snuck into Elysion’s royal garden.”

“Wow all that drama for a flower?” Chibi Moon teased and Sailor Moon glared at her.

“I don’t remember _why_ they were important, but I’m sure I had a good reason, you twerp.”

They had reached the steps of the Moon Castle and Chibiusa spun around and raced up the steps while Sailor Moon walked behind, appreciating the architecture she’d never seen herself. Luna had shown her pictures, after the castle had rebuilt itself, and she’d visited often in her dreams, but she’d never come back.

Or rather, Serenity had never wanted to come back. All that Usagi had ever felt when she thought of the moon was the overwhelming nostalgia for a place she half remembered and then the crippling guilt. She felt it now actually, looking up towards the second floor and the balcony where she’d last kissed Endymion before Metalia had invaded.

She watched Chibi Moon spin around the atrium and the adjacent throne room. Her wide, amber eyes looking around at everything: taking in the stained glass domes and the elaborate gold leafing and the rainbow patterns on the tiles. Had she remained in the past for so long for much the same reason?

 _Perhaps every Moon Princess is destined to nearly destroy their kingdom,_ Sailor Moon thought darkly.

“Where’s the obelisk?” Chibi Moon demanded.

“It’s outside,” Sailor Moon said, pointing behind the throne room. “By the sea.” Or rather, what _had_ been a sea.

“Do we have to go right away?” Chibi Moon asked. “I mean…Jupiter’s gonna take _forever_ to find hers.”

Sailor Moon laughed. “Do you wanna look around for a bit?”

“Yeah!” Chibi Moon exclaimed. “I wanna see your room! No _wait_!” She clapped her hands. “I wanna see Grandma’s room.”

 _Grandma…oh!_ Sailor Moon realized. _The Queen_. It was a little easier to think of the ancient monarch as her mother but as _Chibiusa’s_ grandmother… “Uh sure…I think they’re this way.” She didn’t have a lay out of the castle mind. But if her rooms were on the upper floors she’d bet her Mother’s would be too.

The moon Castle had three upper floors and they scaled all of them – Chibi Moon insisting on stopping and looking at _everything_ from the many landscape paintings to the meeting rooms and dining halls and a kitchen!

 _“_ This is bigger than the Crystal Palace’s…” Chibiusa marvelled. “Can you imagine what it looked like with food in it?”

She only realized when she’d run all the way to the other side of the kitchen that Sailor Moon hadn’t answered. “Sailor Moon?”

The Moon Guardian stood by the long wood table down the center of the kitchen, gloved fingers brushing against something on the counter.

“Er…” Chibi Moon frowned when she stepped up to look over the tall counter top. “Why are you staring at a cutting board?”

“It’s a cheese board,” Sailor Moon answered, a frown on her own face. “I… _almost_ remember it.”

“What do you feel?” Chibi Moon demanded.

Sailor Moon sighed ( _happy…sad…hungry_ ). “Confused,” she told Chibiusa. “Come on.”

They continued on. They found Serenity’s rooms on the third floor, adjacent to a set that had clearly belonged to Venus on one side and Jupiter on the other. And across from them they found Mercury’s and Mars. And across the building, Uranus and Neptune’s singular room in the same hallway as an undecorated room with Saturn’s symbol engraved on the door.

“Maybe she never got to use it,” Sailor Moon realized.

But despite traipsing across the upper-most floor three times, and the second floor five times, they couldn’t find the Queen’s rooms.

They even resorted to triple checking the first floor for hidden doors in the throne room or the ball room (in which Sailor Moon had to stop for a moment as the de-ja vu of performing a waltz across this very floor hit her hard, as well as the realization that her feet could no longer remember how to _do_ that waltz).

But their search was futile. It seemed the Queen had no rooms in the Moon Palace. And at this point, it wasn’t just Chibi Moon’s boundless curiousity driving their search, but Sailor Moon’s frustration. _What was with my mother?_ She began to think as they searched behind the portraits on the ground floor for hidden levers. _Did she build an invisible wing or something_?

“Ugh! I’ve had enough!” Sailor Moon announced, taking out the communicator. “Luna!”

“What’s wrong?” Luna answered.

“Where were the Queen’s rooms?”

There was silence on the line and then Luna saying “ _Are you wasting time exploring?”_

“ _No_ ” Chibi Moon and she both chorused.

“ _We have an enemy potentially in Earth’s neighbourhood and you two are procrastinating!”_ Luna scolded.

“Aw can it, Luna. It’s not like I can’t already use the Silver Crystal,” Sailor Moon said.

“ _You’re meant to go investigate the Obelisk, activate its power, and then come back in case any of the others need help!”_

“And we are,” Sailor Moon protested. “But this is important.”

“ _Why?”_

“Because now I’m curious!” Sailor Moon answered. “If you tell me where the Queen’s rooms are, We’ll get to Obelisk faster.”

The two of them waited and then heard Luna sigh. They grinned and high fived as the cat said. “ _Fine._ ” Luna cleared her throat. “ _It’s in the cellar.”_

“Uh…” Sailor Moon frowned at the communicator. “You mean like the dungeon.”

“ _No. There’s a difference…ugh. It’s the door at the end of the left corridor off the throne room. Would you both hurry up!_ ”

Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon nodded to each other as the communicator cut out and raced off down the hallway. Chibi Moon threw open the door to the cellar as they made their way down.

“It’s so dark down here.” Chibi Moon said. “Why’d anyone wanna live here?”

“I don’t know?” Sailor Moon said as they reached the end of the cellar hallway. It split in two directions. She looked down the left hall and spotted the symbol of Pluto engraved above the door at the end. “Let’s try this way,” she said, steering Chibi Moon down the opposite hallway.

There weren’t many doors down here save plane storage closets and to Sailor Moon’s shock, a fully stocked armoury.

“Wasn’t the Silver Millennium peaceful?” Chibi Moon asked.

“I thought so,” Sailor Moon whispered back.

They continued on down the dark hall, Sailor Moon conjuring the Silver Crystal’s light to see by.

They’d reached the end and turned a corner before they saw down this hallway, a set of white and pink double doors with a rose engraved across the front.

Sailor Moon’s eyes widened when they saw it. A memory surfaced.

“ _What’s the flower on your door?” Serenity asked her mother as she sat down to read her a story._

_“A rose,” Queen Serenity smiled. “They’re the most beautiful flower.”_

_“Where do I find one?” Serenity exclaimed._

_“I…you can’t find them honey. They don’t grow in our Kingdom.”_

_“Where are they then?”_

_“They grow in a Kingdom far, far away. It’s why I like them so much.” She kissed Serenity’s forehead. “Because they don’t grow here.”_

_“Someday I’m going to go on an adventure,” Serenity decided. “And I’m going to get you one.”_

_The Queen frowned. “I’m sorry dear. It’s even too far for an adventure. And far too dangerous.” She shook her head and put a smile back on her face, smoothing back young Serenity’s hair. “It’s just a flower anyway. It doesn’t mean anything at all.”_

“Sailor Moon!” Chibi Moon called and Sailor Moon blinked and shook her head, refocusing on Chibi Moon.

“Huh?”

“Would you help me open it?” Chibi Moon asked through gritted teeth as she scuffed her boots against the floor and pulled with all her strength on the silver door handles.

Sailor Moon walked forwards and set a hand on Chibi Moon’s shoulder. Her daughter let go of the doors.

“Well?”

She remembered now, why no one had ever been in her mother’s rooms. She waved a hand over the locket on her chest and the Silver Crystal flew out, shining blindingly in the dark hall.

“ _Moon Crystal Power_ ,” Sailor Moon whispered.

The lock within the doors clicked and they swung inwards.

“Woah,” the two senshi whispered as they stepped through.

The main room was three times as wide as the hallway outside. It hadn’t a spec of furniture in it.

Except the bookshelves: stretching from the floor all the way up to the ceiling – all of them packed with leather-bound tomes with gilded writing or with scrolls stacked in piles five high.

“I guess the reading gene skipped a generation,” Chibi Moon teased as they wandered into the wide room. There was an archway right across that led into the bedroom – an appropriately large white bed tucked into the corner.

She should have expected the roses after the memory. But they certainly proved to be a shock.

The walls each held a landscape: of mountains higher than the heavy red clouds above with rose petals swirling through the air, of a frozen sea with snow blanketing the surrounding land and the outlines of the flowers carved into the ice – no doubt by skates, and on the final two walls, a place she was stunned to recognize.

“That’s the Elysion gardens!” Sailor Moon gaped. “She told me off for sneaking down to visit them well clearly _she_ did too.” She crossed her arms and grumbled. “What is it with the roses?”

“Maybe we’ll find out in here.” Chibi Moon said. She stood by the queen’s large desk, frowning at the desk drawer. Sailor Moon watched as she waved her hand over the locket on her own uniform. “ _Moon Crystal Power_ ,” Chibi Moon whispered.

All four of the desk’s drawers popped open.

“She was really big on security…” Sailor Moon mumbled as they reached into the desk.

There was nothing very interesting at first glance: reams of paper she couldn’t read all bound together with a red string that crumbled beneath her hand, and several black journals bound in plain leather in still more writing she couldn’t read. Though she could at least tell it was different from the writing on the loose parchment. She looked at Chibi Moon “Let’s take these back with us.”

“Good idea,” Chibi Moon said kneeling to get into the bottom-most drawer. She grabbed a stack of green journals and then made a surprised sound.

“What?” Sailor Moon asked.

“Who’s this?” She asked, reaching into the desk and pulling out a framed portrait. She turned it towards Sailor Moon.

For the life of her, she couldn’t place the woman’s face. Only her earrings were in anyway familiar – shockingly similar to Makoto’s. She traced over the oil painting with her fingers tracing her long, tan nose and the widows peak of dark hair atop her brow.

“I don’t know who she was.” Sailor Moon muttered and sighed. “Maybe Luna will know.

She looked to the left. There was one door still unopened. She beckond to Chibi Moon as she walked around the desk. “Come on.”

Behind this one were a set of stone steps that spiralled upwards to a trap door that Sailor Moon unlocked with the Silver Crystal. The two senshi stepped out into the bright noon sun, the curve of the Earth still visible on the horizon.

And they turned. Behind them was the empty crater of the Mare Serenitas, and the Crystal Obelisk.

Sailor Moon stepped up to it as Chibi Moon looked on, juggling the parchment, journals, and the portrait in her arms. Sailor Moon placed her hand on the Obelisk and Chibi Moon stepped back as it lit up bright white, the beam of energy traveling far up into the sky.

“I’m sorry I didn’t visit sooner,” Sailor Moon whispered. “I felt to guilty.” She looked out over the Moon’s barren landscape. “But…now I’m confused. And I’m a little bit angry. Because I think you were keeping secrets too.” She carried on, thinking of the roses. “I want to remember.” She told the obelisk. “Everything. Secret or Sad, or not. I might still feel guilty.” She told the Obelisk. “But there’s a new enemy coming and I need all the power I can to stop it.”

 _“Spoken like a Queen_ ,” a voice echoed from the Obelisk. Sailor Moon gasped. That didn’t sound like the Moon Queen. She lifted her fingers away from the crystal pillar and stepped back.

Within the crystal, she stared as green eyes appeared before her. Chibi Moon gasped. She could see them too.

“ _Now the weight of the past will rest on your shoulders as heavily as the burden of the future,” the voice continued. “If you’ll accept it.”_

Sailor Moon swallowed and squared her shoulders. “I do.”

 _“Then let this be your coronation.”_ And the green eyes faded back into the crystal as something bright emerged from within it. Both senshi stared as the light gathered together into a golden crown – with jewels of pink, red, and white set into it.

“That’s Mama’s…” Chibi Moon gasped.

Sailor Moon’s hands trembled as they reached for the crown. But she grasped it, realizing as she held it the significance of the crown’s colors.

The jewels that spanned the width bore the colors of a rose.

She watched her own reflection in the crystal as she set the crown atop her head, feeling her Sailor fuku change into a longer, royal gown as memories rushed to the forefront of her mind.

~ _Á Suivre~_


	4. Serenity II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After going to the Moon and receiving the crown of Neo Queen Serenity from the mysterious green eyes that appeared within the Crystal Obelisk, Sailor Moon regains the full memories of her first life...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont own this. If you read Pax Lunae first you will get a lot more out of this (but it's not necessary to read first unless of course you like having major FEELS)  
> and brace yourselves. this is LONG. Serenity had a lot to tell me...

**Serenity II**

“Down! Down!” she chanted. Wriggling herself away from the hands that held her. “Mamaaa!”

“Alright, alright.” Mama laughed as she set Serenity’s kicking feet down on the ground. She raced off after the butterfly – chasing it through the lilacs and daffodils that cast pretty purple and yellow shadows on the warm dirt under her feet. She stretched her hands out before her, straining to catch it. Its wings sparkled in the sunlight.

“Serenity, Careful!” her mother called

The rich, old laugh of her nanny carried through the air “Oh let her go! She’s nearly caught it!”

 _I can catch it. I can I can I can!_ She giggled as she raced around the side of the palace, going up on tip-toe. She was so close _._

“Ah!” her foot caught on a rock that had rolled into the path and she tumbled forwards, landing on her face. She rolled over and sat up. She looked at her hands. They were all red! She sniffed, lip trembling.

“ _Jupiter Static Shock!”_ the loud voice startled her, stopping her tears in their tracks.

She stood up, peering over the tall flowers at the field just across the moat.

 _They’re here_! The girls who’d arrived at naptime yesterday! The ones mama said were staying all summer _._ The green-dressed-girl was sooo tall. She was closest; her white gloved hands were on her hips and she was grinning at a smoking wood circle really far across the field.

“Nice one!” the orange-dressed-girl pumped her fists and leapt at the tall one. Serenity grinned as they hugged and jumped up and down, giggling together.

She ambled forwards, stumbling on her hurt foot, but soon moved from a walk to a run as she saw the red-dressed-girl jump up off the fence. She wanted to see what she’d do.

“My turn.” The red girl had a pointy stick with a shiny end in one hand. She jumped up really,really,really high and Serenity stopped short and craned her neck to see.

 _“Mars Piercing Fire!”_ she threw the spear and Serenity cried out as it caught fire in mid air. It whistled and she’d barely blinked before it had stabbed through another wooden circle.

“Crap!” the red girl scowled. She’d used a bad word!

“Hey! No dissing!” the orange girl said. “That was really good!”

“That was off!” the red girl growled. Her face was turning as red as her clothes. Serenity crept closer. Why was she mad?

“The target’s farther away than last year – you’re doing fine!” the orange girl said. “Look see – it’s still _really_ close – right guys!”

“Yeah – second circle’s not bad,” the green girl said. “Specially for a first try.”

“You’ll just need to slightly re-calibrate your throw,” the little blue haired girl said. “Then it will hit the center every time.”

“See – do whatever The Brains just said and you’ll be fiiiine.” The orange girl continued.

“Fine then,” the red girl shouted again. “You try it!”

The orange girl grinned. She flipped her pretty long blond hair over her shoulders. “Alright: I will.” And then out of nowhere she pulled a bright orange rope out of the air and cracked it against the ground. Serenity gasped. It was sparkly!

And the green girl whipped around. “Oh.” Her big, green eyes stared at Serenity and she raced up to her, hands outstretched. “Stop!”

Serenity froze as the other girl approached, skidding to a halt at the edge of the moat and kneeling down until she was as short as Serenity. “Don’t move!” the girl said. “You’ll fall in.”

Serenity looked where she pointed – at her feet. Her toes were only a little bit away from the edge of the moat. She looked back over at the girl, who was blurry now.

“S-s-sorry,” she hiccupped, plopping down on the shore. Mama always, always _, always_ said to be careful around the water. She couldn’t even swim in it without Mama to hold her up.

“Oh crap,” the green girl stood up and then she leapt all the way over the moat. Serenity’s teary eyes widened as she took in the girl who was even taller this close. The girl held out her arms. “It’s okay… I didn’t mean to make you cry.” She looked over her shoulder at the other girls. “Did you wanna come over?”

Serenity nodded.

“Okay. Hold on.” And then the tall girl’s gloved hands had scooped her up and they had leapt all the way back over the moat. She looked all around as the tall girl set her down, gaze darting between the blue girl and the red girl and the orange girl.

“Princess,” the orange girl knelt first – the red girl and the blue girl close behind her.

“Hi!” she clapped her hands. “Can I pway wif you?”

The red girl glanced around at the others. “We’re not really playing…”

“Sure you can!” the orange girl beamed. She held out her hand. “My name’s Venus.”

“Like the _Kingdom,_ ” Serenity gaped.

“Uhhh…”

The blue haired girl (who was just about her height) giggled. “She’s a Guardian,” The blue one said. “Venus is her name when she wears the orange uniform.” She pointed at her own blue skirt and blue bow and blue boots. “When I wear this, I’m Mercury.” She pointed at the red one. “She’s Mars.”

“And I’m Jupiter.” The tall girl behind her boomed. That made sense. Jupiter was supposed to be big, big, big.

Serenity’s eyes fell on the sparkly orange rope still in Venus hand. “What’s that?”

“Thiiis” Venus cracked it against the ground and lifted it up, spinning it super fast overhead. “Is the Love Chain.”

“What’s it do?”

Venus grinned. “Glad you asked – watch.”

And she twirled it as she turned and walked up towards a not-sparkly rope lying in the grass. She stopped just short of it. “ _Venus Love Strike!”_ and she lifted her arm up over her head and the whole chain glowed as orange as her skirt. She brought her arm down and the chain shot across the field, hitting the orange circle with a big crack. Serenity stared – a whole line of hearts had been left in the circle of wood.

The others cheered as Venus turned round and grinned.

“A little high!” Mars shouted.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Venus waved her hand. She looked at Mercury. “Alright – lets see what you got.”

“Okay.” Mercury nodded sharply and rushed up to the line, taking a while to place her feet. She looked over at Serenity. “Sorry this won’t be as cool”

“She’s kidding,” Jupiter said. “It’ll be really cool.”

Mercury’s face turned pink and she grinned before turning back around and cupping her hands together.

 _“Mercury Bubble Frost_ ” a blue bubble spiralled out of her hands swirling with rainbow colors in the sunlight. It made it all the way across the field and hit right in the middle of the wooden circle – popping in a star-burst of ice.

“Oooh!” Serenity clapped her hands. “Can I twy?”

The four of them glanced at each other.

“Uh…” Venus glanced at the others and walked back over to Serenity, kneeling down in front of her. “Well, Princess…you need to – ”

“Have a weapon!” Mars said, lifting her hand. Her spear sprang free of the target and flew into her hand as she ran over to the fence that ran along the far side of the field. Serenity saw her carve her spear into the wood of a post and then rush back. She knelt next to Venus and bowed her head to Serenity. Serenity giggled. People only bowed to her Mama. And then she gasped as Mars held out her hand.

“You make this!” she said, grasping the arc of wood in both hands. She held it up. It looked like a “V,” or a crescent Earth or: “like your cwown!”

Mars eyes glanced up towards her hair and she pointed at the shiny gold crown on her forehead. “The tiara?”

“Yeah!” Serenity bounced up and down.

“I was going for boomerang,” Mars muttered.

“Nooo. It’s a tiawa.” Serenity nodded. She looked around. There was a berry bush a ways off. She ran to it, encouraged by the giggling she could hear behind her. She plucked a berry off the bush and ran back. She held up the red treat. No – not a treat – this wasn’t for eating. “It needs a red spot like yours!” she told Mars, squishing the berry down onto the bend in the wooden tiara.

Venus had her hand held up to her mouth. Mercury was grinning. Jupiter hit Mars with her elbow. “Exactly like Mars.”

“Now I can thwow it!” Serenity decided.

“Yeah – here lemme show you.” And Mars took off her own pretty tiara and showed Serenity how to hold it in one hand and how to throw it. Then she shook her head and reached out, adjusting Serenity’s grip. “Move your arm like this…” she said as she guided Serenity’s arm back and forth. “And you flick your wrist.” And she showed her that too. “Don’t let go until your arm is like this,” she said.

“Got it!” Serenity said, nodding her head repeatedly.

“Okay. So you stand…here.” Mercury beckoned her across the field, over the rope and farther into the grass. She pointed her to a spot. Serenity stomped on it. “And aim at the target – at the smallest circle.”

Serenity looked up and stuck her tongue through her teeth as she looked at the smallest circle in the middle of the bigger two circles in the middle of the wood target. She raised her arm just like Mars had.

“Don't forget to use the magic words!” Jupiter hollered.

“Okay!” she shouted back.

“Remember! Kingdom, uh… tiara… and a magic word!” Jupiter added.

“I can do it!” Serenity called. She squinted at the target, grinned, and drew her arm back. _“Moon…Tiawa…MAGIC!”_ she tossed the wooden tiara. It sailed towards the wood target and thumped against the bottom edge. “I did it!” she cheered. The Guardians whooped. She hugged Mercury really tight and then turned around and ran up to Mars hugged her waist. The other girl “oof”ed.” “Thank you thank you thank you!”

“Of course Princess,” Mars said.

“No – now you gotta call me Moon!” she said.

The four of them laughed. Jupiter ruffled her hair. “Sorry kiddo – you can still throw the tiara as Princess Serenity.”

She pouted. “But that’s not fair.” And her lip wobbled as she started to cry.

“Don’tcrydon’tdon’tcry!” Venus said. “You get to rule The Moon Kingdom! That’s totally cool too.”

“I.” Sniff. “Wanna.” Sniff. “Be a.” Sniff. “Guawdian.” Sniff. “Like you.”

“You’re already like us,” Mercury said, stepping between Mars and Venus. “Look see:”

She glowed really blue and Serenity’s crying trailed off as she looked at Mercury. Her blue uniform had changed. Now she was just wearing a plain white skirt and top just like what everyone called the latest summer fashion. And instead of the tiara she had a blue mark on her forehead just like Serenity’s gold one. “I can be a Princess like you, see.” She held out a hand to Serenity. “I’m Princess Athena.”

“I love your ideas!” Venus announced and she flashed orange. She had puffy orange pants that matched her t-shirt and bracelets. She had an orange mark on her forehead. “IIIIII’M Aphrodite.”

“Af…Afwaidy?” Serenity tried.

All four of them laughed.

“Close enough,” she said.

 _~AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Who is my Daddy?” Serenity asked Mama at dinner the day after the girls had gone home for the season.

Nanny Cornelia coughed and everyone else turned to look at Mama, who had, it seemed, forgotten all her nagging to Serenity about proper etiquette, because she’d stopped her fork halfway to her mouth (which was hanging open just like everyone was always nagging _her_ not to do unless she wanted to catch flies).

“Well who is he?” she asked, looking around. But it didn’t seem like anyone else was gonna tell her.

Mama’s fork clacked against her plate and she shook her head. “You don’t have one, Sweetie.”

“But…but Athena says evewy one has a Daddy. She says even Afwaidy’s gotta have one somewhewe. What’s that mean?”

“Princess Aphrodite’s a…special case,” Mama said. “As are you.”

“So…I don’t have a Daddy.”

Her Mama did that thing she always did when she was thinking. She tilted her head just so and laced her hands together under her chin, staring at her. Serenity copied Mama.

“Sweetie,” Nanny Cornelia said, putting her hand on her shoulder. “It’s a little complicated… your Mama was going to tell you when you were older.”

“No,” Mama said, standing up from the table. “I… true it’s complicated, but Serenity has a right to know.” Mama beckoned to her. “Let’s go for a walk, and I can tell you.”

She tumbled out of her seat and rushed up to Mama, jumping up into her arms when Mama reached them down to her.

Mama chuckled. “Oh I’m afraid you might be getting too old for this.”

“ _No_!” she cried out, clinging her arms tighter around her Mama’s neck. Sure she’d grown almost as tall as Afwaidy this summer, but she still fit in Mama’s arms.

Mama carried them down the stairs from the dining room and down the long, open promenade bordered by vines and columns that led out to the big crystal by the sea. Mama set her down once they were in front of it and knelt next to her. “You were made here,” she said, taking Serenity’s hand and holding it up to the cool, silver crystal. “That’s why you don’t have a Daddy.”

“But… but Athena said that’s not how it wowks.”

“And what did Athena tell you?” her Mama had that tone in her voice she used when she thought Serenity’d been up to something like eating dessert when the cook wasn’t looking or stealing all the linens to make blanket forts with the girls.

Was she gonna get Athena in trouble?

“Serenity?”

“Uh….she just said kids get made when a mommy and a daddy do intercowse and make a new pewson.”

Her Mama sighed and muttered something about Mercurians and being too candid, whatever that meant. She wanted to ask, but Mama pointed her back towards the crystal.

“Athena’s correct in most cases. But it was not so with you. You see, a daddy has to be a boy and usually, for a princess as you are, a king.”

“But we don’t have a king.”

“You’re right. But,” her Mama smiled. “We still wanted you. So you see we –” Then she stopped for a second. Serenity turned her head to look up at Mama, but she was covering her face with her hand and shaking her head like she did when she was bothered about something. “By we, I mean everyone on the Moon,” she continued “the people and Cornelia and my advisors and most definitely me,” and she pulled her close and tickled her. Serenity squealed and giggled and Mama did too. “Wanted a Princess. So everyone on the Moon offered a prayer to this obelisk.” She gestured again to the shiny crystal. “And it gave me you.”

“But _how_.”

“Magic,” her Mama said. And Serenity stared at the crystal as Mama kissed her head. She saw Mama’s reflection and frowned.

“Why awe you cwying?”

Her Mama’s small smile turned into a big one and she hastily wiped her tears. “I told you about happy tears didn’t I, Serenity? That’s what these are. It’s a very happy memory thinking about the day this crystal blessed us all with you.”

Her heart swelled and she turned around so she could hug her Mama close. “I love you, Mama.”

“I love you too, Little One.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The year she turned five was the best year ever cause she knew that was the year the other girls got to train to be guardians and that meant there was no reason for Mama to say she couldn’t be just like them too.

So when she blew out the candles on her cake and the whole room clapped and Nanny Cornelia asked what she wished for she looked at her Mama and said. “I wanna be Sailor Moon!”

She wasn’t expecting all the clapping to stop just like that, or for everyone to look at her Mama the same way they did the night she asked about having a daddy.

Even the other Guardians – who were here early this year cause she’d asked Mama if they could come to her birthday – were looking at each other, and her, and her Mama, and biting their lips, and fidgeting their hands.

“Princess,” Venus walked up to her seat and bowed to her. “Truly it would be an honor to serve alongside you, but… you’re not a Guardian.”

“I could train to be one though!”

“Sweetie,” her Mama bent down so she was looking right at her and she put her hands on Serenity’s shoulders, right over the puffs on her brand new dress. “You have to understand… the Guardians were born with abilities that are special. That’s why they can be Sailors.”

“So… so I’m not special?” she asked and the room immediately filled up with shouts of protest – even from Areisa. It kept her from crying at least.

“You are very special,” her Mama rushed to say, leaning in and kissing the crescent on her forehead. “Someday, you’ll be Queen just like I am – and all the worlds the Guardians come from – our whole Silver Alliance – that will be yours to govern and protect with this.” And she shrunk her pink staff down until it was shorter than Serenity and held it between them. The round, silver crystal – the same make as the obelisk by the sea – glowed brighter than her candles had.

Her Mama’s crystal was the most special thing in the Sol System, Nanny Cornelia has said. It could heal whole worlds and stop stray comets in their tracks. And Mama used it to keep all their friends safe, and even Luna and Artemis’ home far, far away.

“Woah…” she said. “But…but I’m a Princess… why can’t I be a Sailor?”

“Not all Princesses get to be Sailors,” Luna said, leaping up to sit on her Mama’s shoulders. “On my old world, our Sailor was a merchant’s girl.”

“Oh.” That made sense. “Then, where is Sailor Moon? She should come here and be friends with us too.”

Her Mama frowned. “Serenity… The Moon can’t have a Sailor.”

“Why? We’we a Kingdom with the Earth-moon like Maws has Phobos and Deimos…don’t we get a Sailor.”

“Ah,” Mercury said. “Only planets have Sailors…and you’re not one.”

“Earth,” her Mama said. “Isn’t our moon. It’s our planet.”

They were the _Moon_ Kingdom. Oh. Serenity blushed. She’d always thought they were just neighboring worlds.

“But we don’t need a Sailor,” her Mama continued. “Your Guardians can protect the throne just fine.” She smiled at the four older girls. “I have complete faith in them.”

Mercury blushed. Venus beamed. Mars stood a little taller and Jupiter’s green eyes became wide and sparkly.

Her Guardians. Everyone was always reminding her about that. It was still weird, though she’d been told it since the first day they’d come to train at the Palace, that the four of them were meant to protect her.

Jupiter said it was because she was the Moon Princess. Venus said it was cause that was their destiny. Mars said it was because Serenity’s aim was crap. Mercury said it was because the Moon was the head of the Alliance, and that was important.

“Anyways,” her Mama was saying. “I think we should get to that cake.” She chuckled. “Unless the birthday girl doesn’t want to get to the presents.”

“ _Nononononono_.” She shook her head so fast her pigtails whipped across her face. Everyone around her laughed. “Presents. Presents. Where are they?”

“Cake first,” her Mama said, as Nanny Cornelia cut her a piece.

 

It was a very, very long time later (once her guardian friends had gone to bed) that she thought to ask. Cake and presents could only distract her for so long.

“Do the other planets have guardians?” she asked

“Mhmm.” Mama smiled. “Uranus and Neptune are quite a bit older than you are though – the last time they trained here you could fit between my elbow and the palm of my hand.”

Her eyes grew wide trying to imagine herself that small. “And Saturn?”

“Will have a Guardian someday,” Mama said. “One hasn’t been born yet.”

“And Pluto?”

Her Mama sighed. “Pluto is a very special kind of Sailor,” she said. “She has a… complicated story.”

“What is it?”

Her Mama smiled and shook her head. “When you’re older – and I mean much older, not next year.” She teased, tapping Serenity’s nose. “I will tell you about Pluto.”

“Promise?” she asked, sticking out her little finger.

Her Mama hooked her own around Serenity’s. “I promise.”

She already felt sleepy. Her sugar highs, as Nanny Cornelia has often joked, went hand in hand with her inevitable “sugar crashes.” She yawned and flopped down onto her pillow as her hand slipped out of Mama’s. “And,” she yawned again as Mama chuckled. “What about Eawth?”

“Earth doesn’t have a Guardian,” Mama said quickly. “They haven’t had one for a very, very long time.”

“Why not?”

Mama shook her head and smoothed back Serenity’s long hair. She kissed the crescent on her forehead. “No one knows,” Mama said, her eyes glancing away. “It happened much too long ago,” she said. “Sailor Earth’s a legend like Pluto, you could say… just not a living one.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Where do the roses come from?” she asked Nanny Cornelia one of the nights she got to stay up cause Mama was busy and couldn’t tuck her in until late. On this night, just like so many others, Nanny was entertaining her by stealing cheese from the kitchen and telling her stories.

“From a planet far, far awa-”

“But where?” Serenity asked. Mama always refused to say, but as Areisa was always saying, Mama coddled her a lot.

“I don’t think your mother wants me to –”

“ _Nannyyyyyyy”_

Nanny sighed and sat for a moment. And Serenity leaned towards her over the table and clasped her hands together. Surely she was old enough to know one silly, little royal secret. She stared at Nanny Cornelia.

At last the old woman sighed and shook her head. “Still can’t resist that face,” she muttered. “Fine then – but you’re not to tell your mother I told you.”

“ _Yay!_ ” she squealed and then gasped. She put her hands over her mouth. “Sorry… I promise.”

Nanny Cornelia chuckled. “Right… well it’s a short story, really. Roses only grow on one planet in the Sol System – Earth.”

Earth…the blue world with no guardian and no ambassador and no one allowed to go there ever, ever, ever. “Woah…how come Mama likes an Earth flower?”

Nanny Cornelia looked up at the ceiling for a long moment and closed her eyes the way some of the priests and priestesses did when they wanted to tell the Goddess lady something. Then Nanny shook her head and looked back at Serenity. “A very, very long time ago, your mother used to live on Earth,” Cornelia said. “In the castle – and I lived there too. And the Roses were her favourite flower.” She hummed and smiled softly as though remembering something. “She would sit out in them for hours – and I don’t blame her. They were quite lovely – both the color and the smell. And Elysion had the most amazing gardens full of them.” She looked at Serenity again. “But they never grew naturally on the Moon, nor any other planet. In fact there was only one woman who was ever able to grow them here.”

Serenity stared at Cornelia. “Mama used to live on _Earth_!” she exclaimed as Cornelia shushed her. But she was too excited to mind her. “But…but it’s a bad place? Is that why she had to leave? What happened? Did the guardians help her make the Moon Kingdom? Who was the lady who grew roses here? Can we get her back? I wanna see one.”

Cornelia had closed her eyes and begun shaking her head. “She…can’t come back Serenity, she d –”

“Didn’t want to live away from her family,” Mama said loudly as she sailed quickly across the kitchen and scooped Serenity up, spinning her around. “I’m sorry I’m late Sweetie – One of the outer outposts had a pressing matter to sort out.”

“You lived on Earth!” Serenity exclaimed and over Mama’s shoulder she saw Cornelia smack her hand over her face and groan. Oh no…she wasn’t supposed to tell Mama she knew!

“I…I did,” Mama said. “Very, very long ago. What's Cornelia said so far?”

“That…that you lived in the palace and had to leave…why did you have to leave?”

She frowned as her Mama did and waited. And waited.

“Earth treated its people very badly,” Mama said at last. “And I stood up for them and was exiled here. I became the Moon Queen so that those people of Earth who wanted to could follow me here. But I was always very sad to have to leave my favourite flower behind.”

“What about the lady who could grow them here? Why’d she leave?”

Her Mama looked over at Nanny Cornelia now. “Her family couldn’t travel with her here – they… lived on a planet very far away like Luna and Artemis’ home. And so when the lady had stayed for a very long time she grew to miss them. And she returned home.”

“Oh…what was her name?”

“H-” her Mama cleared her throat. “You know, actually, she never told me, Serenity. I was silly not to ask. I only knew her by her title.”

“Which _was_ ,” Serenity bounced up and down in her Mama’s arms. She was old enough now to know that demanding people tell her things over and over wasn’t good manners for anyone, but that didn’t make her any more patient.

“The Charioteer,” Mama finally said, “And how’s about, I tell you how she got _that_ title while I brush your hair.”

“Okay!” she grinned. The nights Mama had time to tell her stories were the best! Sure, Nanny Cornelia told better stories, but Mama’s were extra special since she rarely had time to tell them at bed-time.

“When the Pipsqueak’s all tucked in, your majesty, would you fancy some tea?” Nanny Cornelia asked, eyes focused on wrapping up Serenity’s snack.

“You know I very much would,” her Mama said. “Say goodnight to Cornelia, Serenity.”

“Night, Nanny!”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

All her Guardian friends only ever stayed for the summer, all except Jupiter. She and Auntie Frigga came to visit almost every year and the weeks they did were the best fun. Sure, Jupiter was older and waaaaay taller than her still, but she was the only other kid in the palace and she was always game to get into mischief with Serenity.

The year Serenity was seven, she showed up already transformed into Sailor Jupiter and leapt out of her family’s carriage when it was still really, really high off the ground. Serenity screamed and then gaped as Sailor Jupiter somersaulted through the air, landing on her feet with a clap that send a huge cloud of dirt exploding away from her. Serenity ran through it and leapt at her.

“Hi Princess!” Jupiter grinned as she spun Serenity around. When she set her on her feet Serenity gasped – the top of her head was just about at Jupiter’s shoulders if she stood on her toes. “I’m nearly as tall as you now!” she cheered.

“Won’t stay that way for long,” Jupiter said. “My Queen says I’m going to be even taller than her.”

“Your Queen,” Mama chuckled and looked over at the carriage, which had just set down and waved as Auntie Frigga opened the door. “I was under the impression she was your mother, Sailor Jupiter.”

“She is, Your Majesty,” Jupiter said as she stepped around Serenity about bowed to her Mama. “But as I am in guardian form right now, I must address her by her proper title.”

Serenity giggled. “That’s silly.”

“Thank you, Serenity,” Auntie Frigga said as she walked up to them, pushing her wavy black hair out of her face. She let Serenity hug her and ruffled her hair. “It is very silly.” She looked over at Mama. “Teenagers, I tell you. Will you please tell her she doesn’t have to stay transformed _all_ the time. I have tried. She says it’s part of her training. She _sleeps_ as Jupiter.”

Mama laughed and turned to Sailor Jupiter who was blushing and had her arms crossed in front of her. “It’s not a training I’m aware of.”

“I’m tired of only training in the summers, so now I do my own,” Jupiter said. “Being transformed is fun. I can jump higher. And I can make lightning. And I’m faster.”

“And being transformed all the time is bound to make you incredibly tired,” Mama cautioned her. “It’s not a power to be used frivolously. Why what if, when an enemy attacks, you’re so tired you de-transform and don’t have the energy to get those powers back.”

“ _That’s_ not gonna happen,” Jupiter insisted, making her hands into fists and punching them together. They made a bright burst of lightning when they met that even made Auntie Frigga laugh. “I’m so strong I can be Jupiter all the time.”

“And she’s been eating like a dragon since she started with this,” Frigga said. “The palace can’t keep enough food in the kitchen.”

“Woah,” Serenity said, whirling to look at the blushing Jupiter. “I wanna be able to eat that much.”

“It’s just the first sign that you’re using too much of your energy,” her Mama said. “Not even Uranus and Neptune can stay transformed all the time.”

“Exactly,” Frigga agreed. “Come on, back to normal – right now.”

“Awww.” Jupiter pouted. “Fine…AFTER I show Serenity all the cool stuff I can do.” She turned and bent down, looking over her shoulder to grin at Serenity. “Wanna ride, Princess?”

“Yeah!” she jumped on Jupiter’s back. She was too big now to sit on her shoulders, but she could still link her arms around Jupiter’s neck and her legs around her waist. “How fast can you run?” she asked her.

“We’re gonna find out,” Jupiter said. Then she was off, the wind whipping around she and Serenity as they raced towards the palace. “Where to?”

“The observatory!” Serenity shouted in her ear. “It has a brand new telescope.”

“Alright. Hold tight. Ready?”

“Yeah!” and she squealed as Jupiter suddenly jumped into the air. Little shocks of lightning fizzled through the older girl’s brown hair as she soared up, up, up to the highest balcony of the castle.

Jupiter carried her all over the castle as she showed her the observatory, and then her new, big-girl room right between Jupiter and Venus’ rooms, and finally to the kitchen when Jupiter said she needed a snack. Then she sat on the counter and stared, apple only partially eaten, as Jupiter ate her way through three sandwiches, two sweet rolls, _and_ an entire leg of ham.

And then of course they had to go scouting. It had become a tradition on Jupiter’s visits for at least two years now – it was an essential part of her visits. Every summer when all the guardians came to stay, they played hide and seek. And Serenity was getting very tired of Areisa winning all the time. So she and Jupiter had a game. Whenever the other girls weren’t there, the two of them would spend part of their extra time scouting out better and better hiding spots.

It was especially important this year, Serenity declared, because Jupiter was now too big to fit under any of the beds.

They had scouted their way into the armoury – not to look for hiding spots as Mama said that was a very bed idea – but cause Jupiter’d gotten distracted and needed to show Serenity all the weapons she could use now.

“And – oh where does her majesty keep the knives – I can juggle three of them now, you’re gonna love it.”

“Uh…” she didn’t know. She never went in the armoury with Mama and she wasn’t allowed in on her own.

“Maybe they’re in some of the chests – here open that one for me.” Jupiter said, turning around and choosing another chest.

“Okay…” she slipped off the chest she was sitting on and grunted as she lifted up the heavy wood and metal lid. Not much…bows, arrows, an axe and, she squinted, reaching in and picking out a set of the really weird blades partitioned off from the rest of the chest’s contents. “What are these?” she asked Jupiter, holding them by the leather straps that tied the pair of blades together.

Jupiter glanced over and grinned. “Those aren’t weapons! They’re skates!”

“Skates?”

“Yeah – oh don’t tell me you’ve never tried it.”

“Tried what?”

“Ice skating of course!” And she lifted one of her green boots and clapped her hands. Serenity gasped, a thin blade sprang out of the sole of the shoe.

“The people who dance on the ice!” she said, recalling the distant citizens she always saw gliding across the Mare Serenitas in winter. “You can do that! I wanna do that!”

Jupiter took the blades out of her hands and stared at the ones in the chest. “None of these will fit you.”

“Aww.”

“No it’s okay – we always have some in the carriage – I bet they haven’t taken my old ones out yet. Come on!” and she clapped her hands again, the skate vanishing into her boot. Serenity climbed up onto her back again, and they were off – racing out of the cellars and towards the front lawns.

 

She’d approached the ice with a bit of trepidation but Jupiter hadn’t been having any of that.

“Mom – my Queen – says Her Majesty doesn’t like skating, but you totally will,” Jupiter had said, holding out her arms to Serenity. “I learned when I was three so you can totally do it now.”

It only took her two steps onto the ice in Jupiter’s old skates for the trepidation to vanish. The ice glided away under her feet. It was like she was flying! Jupiter coached her through each step until they were far away from the shore and then Serenity let go of her hands. “I’m doing it! I’m doing it!”

“You sure are!” Jupiter said, skating in circles around her. “I think you’re a natural!”

“I could be as fast as you!” Serenity said She pointed across the sea. “Race you to that dock!”

“Serenity!”

But she was off. She held her arms out on either side of her in the chilly winter wind. It sailed over and under her arms and made her dress billow out behind her as she moved her feet faster and faster! She was doing it! And she was winning!

“You don’t know how to stop!” Jupiter hollered behind her.

“What?” she shouted back and then realized: the docks had seemed far away when she started, but now they were nearing rapidly. She shifted her foot to stop and wobbled, arms flailing. Oh no. Too fast. Too fast. Toofast _toofast_.

“Hold on!” Jupiter shouted. But she’d never catch Serenity in time. She closed her eyes trying to ignore the approaching docks. What if she just turned away from them? She shifted her right foot and leaned.

“Woohoo!” Jupiter shouted.

Serenity opened her eyes.

She was so close to the docks that she could touch them. But rather than slamming into them she was skating alongside them. She looked down. Her feet were straight. She turned her foot again and leaned, kicking off to gain more speed.

She turned.

“That was awesome!” Jupiter clapped as she came up next to Serenity. “You really are a natural.”

“Really?”

“Yeah – try jumping next.”

“How?” and she watched Jupiter do it. She screwed her face up as she concentrated on the movement. Just a little hop…

Her feet left the ice, and landed. Jupiter cheered. She tried it again. Then again. Then higher. She twirled. Her skate landed sideways, and she shrieked, nearly falling. But Jupiter caught her arms, steadying her until she was balanced again.

“One trick at a time,” Jupiter teased, skating along again. “Here – try making a picture.” And she skated a little bit away. Serenity watched as she skated a whole circle into the ice and then used the toe of her skate to make two eyes and a smile.

She looked up at the observatory where Mama kept her public study. The balcony and the windows looked right down on the sea. She had an idea.

She was sure it wasn’t the best picture – especially when she fell trying to make one of the more difficult swirls. But it had petals and it was big and thanks to Jupiter it had a stem and thorns too.

She was just deciding that maybe she should make a whole ring of petals around it like they were blowing in the wind when she heard Mama shout her name.

She whirled around. Mama was on the balcony high above. She skated quickly across the ice until she was close to the shore and couldn’t resist showing off. She jumped and then, on a hunch, stuck one leg out, landing on one and twirling round, and round, and round once she had landed. She waved at her Mama. “I can skate!” she shouted. “Look Mama! I made you a rose!”

She frowned when Mama didn’t respond immediately – instead lifting a hand up to cover her mouth as she stared at Serenity. Auntie Frigga was the one who shouted. “It looks lovely girls…Jupiter I thought you said you were going to change back!”

“Just until dinner! Please, my Queen… _Fine_. Please, Mom?”

“Thank you, Serenity.” Her Mama called down. Her voice was hoarse. “I guess we’d better get you skates of your own now, huh?”

“Um…yeah.” Serenity said, looking back at Jupiter. She wasn’t looking at Mama, but at the rose. So she hadn’t seen what Serenity’d seen – the sunlight shining off a fresh tear on Mama’s face.

Mama rarely ever cried, Serenity could still count the times she had on one hand. And Mama always insisted they were happy tears.

 _But…_ Serenity pondered all through the afternoon and the night. _They seem more like sad tears._

She thought about it until her head ached and then thought about the other times she’d seen her Mama cry.

She hadn’t seemed happy any of the times…were any of them happy tears?

“What’s wrong?” Her mother asked her that night when she tucked her in.

“Nothing,” Serenity promised. “I just…miss the other girls.”

“Well you won’t for long,” her mother smiled. “They’ll be here for training before you know it.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The year she turned ten was the year a whole bunch of things happened at the same time.

First, Areisa came to stay _months_ before the summer started. And she had what Nanny Cornelia called “teenage drama.” She was sulky and quiet and didn’t want to talk to Serenity about anything. She wouldn’t let them train together – not that they could now since she fought entirely with fire, and Serenity was still crap with any weapon according to the Martian guardian.

Then, at the start of the summer, two sailors she’d never seen before came to visit. She watched from her room as they met her mother at the obelisk – not arriving in a carriage or via flying horse, but soaring out of the sky! The dark-blue sailor had her own wings – the same color as the noon sky. She landed she and the blue-green sailor at the obelisk and the two of them knelt and bowed their heads to her mother before rising. They were so pretty, Serenity thought. Surely this must be Uranus and Neptune.

She found out why they were here of course – some trouble had just been resolved on Uranus at long last and they were here ahead of a whole delegation of ambassadors who arrived right around the time the other girls arrived to train. Mama and the two older sailors seemed to be in meetings with the ambassadors _all_ day then. And worse: for the first summer ever, none of the girls had time to play with her.

“We’ve gotta be as strong as they are,” Venus said one afternoon – pointing out Uranus and Neptune a very far ways off. They were training with Martian warlocks. And they were winning. Serenity understood enough from Areisa to know that was impressive. “And I gotta train with the sword – but we’ll meet you after.”

That was the other thing. Venus had a sword now. Not just any sword, her _Mama’s_ “Moonlight” – the holy sword. They trained with it early in the morning every day. Aphrodite wasn’t exactly quiet when she got ready in the morning so her hunt for her hairbrush always woke Serenity up at dawn. She’d then go to her balcony and walk round it to the other side of the palace until she could get a glimpse of the practice yard. And then she’d watch Venus and her mother spar for hours. Most mornings her Mother even knocked the sailor down!

She heard whispers from the ambassadors too. The Queen was so good, after not picking up a sword in years. Some of the oldest ones even mumbled things about what a shame all of that had been. _All of what_? No one would tell her. Not the ambassadors, or the sailors, or even Nanny Cornelia.

She was out in the flower fields one day weaving them into crowns and pouting about it when she heard footsteps behind her and whirled around, staring when she realized it was the mysterious sailor from Neptune behind her.

“Sharp ears,” Neptune told her as she walked up to Serenity. She knelt and bowed her head. “Princess,”  
“ _Don’t call me that!_ ” she scowled and then realized how rude that was. She blushed. “Sorry.” she gestured to the flowers. “I… don’t like it when people bow to me.”

“Alright then,” and Neptune folded her legs underneath herself and sat beside Serenity in the flowers. “Serenity.”

“Thank you…why are you here?”

“Well we were watching the other girls practice and Mars mentioned you’d seemed upset this morning.”

“What does Mars care?”

“Quite a lot,” Neptune said immediately. “Why, you’re incredibly important to her.”

“She barely talks to me,” Serenity said.

Neptune sighed. “She has a lot in her head right now, Serenity. Some of it she doesn’t know how to talk to you about.”

“I…she could just say that.”

“Of course she could – the same way you’d admit to your mother that you’re upset with her.”

 _How does she know that!_ Serenity gaped, setting her just-started flower crown aside. “I’m not,”

“This mirror,” Neptune said, pulling a golden and turquoise hand mirror out of thin air. “Tells me otherwise.”

Serenity gaped for a few more moments before sighing and looking down at the ground. Neptune’s piercing gaze was hard to meet. “She gave Venus her sword.”

“And you wanted her to give it to you?”

“N-no… I don’t like sword-fighting… but she never even asked me. Shouldn’t… shouldn’t she give it to me?”

“Well, let’s start with your mother has very complicated reasons for giving it to Venus,” Neptune said. Her voice was too calm and warm for Serenity to be angry at. “But more simply – she is the leader of the younger guardians. It makes quite a bit of sense that she have the holy sword.”

Serenity continued looking at the flowers. “That does make sense.” She looked at Neptune. “Why do you all have to protect me?” she asked. “Why can’t my friends just be my friends?”

Neptune’s lips turned up into a half smile that Serenity couldn’t quite read. “They will always be your friends Serenity. But they have a very important duty of their own and they’ll need to figure out for themselves how to have friends and still give everything they have to their battles.”

“Well it’s not like they have anything to fight,” Serenity said. “It’s peacetime.”

“And that is the most dangerous time,” Neptune said. “Awful things happen in peacetime because warriors let their guard down. You’ll understand that some day…” she reached out and picked up one of the flower crowns, hummed and set it on top of her head. “But when warriors are strong during peacetime, that’s how they protect it.” She gestured all around at the endless fields of flowers and the sparkling palace a ways off. Then she pointed at Serenity too. “This Kingdom and you, especially you, are precious Serenity: to your mother and the other worlds and especially to us guardians. Your mother has been… an amazing mentor to Uranus and I, as she is to your friends. And you,” she smiled a real smile this time. “Have never known war as some of us have, and as all of us will. You remind us what it is we fight for.” Then she reached out and picked up another flower crown, leaning over to put it on Serenity’s head. “A bright light, where even Sol can’t shine.”

And before Serenity could respond, Neptune stood and bowed to her, and then she walked away, turquoise hair shining in the sunlight.

 _She’s known what war is_ … Serenity wondered as she stared after the guardian. _What did she mean all of them will_? She knew Uranus and Neptune fought things in the farthest reaches of Sol, but what sort of evil would require even her friends to fight.

 _And will I have to just sit here hoping they come home?_ Serenity thought. _Hoping they don’t die…_

_I don’t want them to protect me. What kind of princess lets her friends die for her._

_I…_ she thought back to being very young and her very first memory of throwing the silly fake tiara at the target from a stupid five feet away. _I don’t want to encourage them from the palace… I want to support them. I want to fight with them!_

 _But,_ she sniffed, rubbing away the tear that escaped her eye. _But I’m not a guardian…which I guess is fair. I hate fighting. Why would the universe pick a guardian that hated fighting?_

Making flower crowns didn’t seem appealing anymore. Perhaps she’d ask Nanny Cornelia if they could have some cheese out of the kitchen. Snacks and stories always made her feel better.

As she made her way back, she looked up. The bright blue sphere that was the Earth shone in the sky above the palace.

 _Did my mother know war?_ she thought, stopping in the middle of the field to stare at the mysterious planet. _Is that why she never tells me about growing up on Earth_?

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Her mother didn’t tell her stories anymore. Instead she told her how to rule. She asked Serenity to accompany her to her meetings, and to go over the budget, and to meet with the advisors. Serenity was very grateful that Luna has taken it upon herself to sit on Serenity’s shoulders and whisper important information in her ear when meetings of the Moon Kingdom’s governing council went over her head. There was _so much_ about ruling her Kingdom that she hadn’t known – she hadn’t even been aware there was a whole section of badlands in the east that periodically had to be checked for negative energy. Nor had she known that Uranus hadn’t formally joined the Silver Alliance until her after her twelfth birthday. _Why not_?

 _Well they had a warlord to depose_ , Luna had said. _Sailor guardians aren’t meant to fight humans so unfortunately Uranus and Neptune could be of little aid to that effort._

By the time she’s learned enough about governing to be sitting in the throne room by her mother’s side on the public audience days, she and Areisa were not the only ones living in the palace. Aphrodite’d moved in too – and her entire room’s worth of clothes along with her. And the summer she turned twelve and all the girls resumed their full time training, Athena, for reasons left untold, remained at the palace afterwards.

She was dying to ask questions. She got some answers. Aphrodite was having a spat of sorts with her father. Athena was having a bit more that a spat with hers. Of course that was all Athena would say. According to Aphrodite, she hadn’t told any of the guardians why exactly she hadn’t gone home either. Still it was nice to have them there. They frequently stood in uniform on public audience days, and at meetings with diplomats, and they came to the Moon’s many galas and balls in their most formal, royal gowns.

She loved having them. Truly, she did. Aphrodite braided her hair in the most elaborate ways. Areisa offered the sagest advice about her future as a Queen. Athena helped her with all the arithmetic taught to her by her tutors that even Luna couldn’t make her understand.

She still called them her friends, though there were no more games of hide and seek, and she had not joined them at their training in years. Aphrodite even _bowed_ when she entered the room now and more than once she had to be reminded not to snap at her for it.

“They are your friends still,” her mother said one night when she came to say goodnight and found Serenity crying. “But they’re nearly adults now, Serenity. And when you’re their age, things like decorum and proper respect seem a lot more important. And they want you to understand too, how important you are.” She held her pink sceptre out to Serenity, the ever-bright silver crystal on the top captivating her attention.

“This will be your crystal one day – and you alone have the ability to wield it.” She let Serenity hold the sceptre – it was warm! “I protect this whole star system with it when even the guardians can’t. And they defend us in the meanwhile.” She let Serenity hold the sceptre. “The crystal is the only thing strong enough to maintain peace in this star system,” she said. And she walked out to Serenity’s balcony and beckoned her to join.

Outside, the Earth was full; its swirling clouds were thin enough that all the lush green land and vast blue seas could be seen below them.

“There is evil on Earth,” her mother said. “Evil and the Golden Crystal which, together, cause unrest in this star system. There’ll come a day when it is all unleashed and only you will have the power to save the Kingdom. It is why I teach you how to rule it.”

“But…” Serenity started. “But I’ve never used the Crystal.”

“You’re young,” Her mother said. “A girl of only twelve can not possibly stand its power. I didn’t even wield it for myself until I was seventeen. It is dangerous to use without discipline.”

 _It sounds like a guardian would be a better fit for it – not me_ , Serenity thought. _I’m not strong like them_.

She noticed things now – like the long stretches of time Areisa spend away and how she always came back quiet and sullen. She noticed how close she’d become to Aphrodite and knew, from the furious scratching of her quill over the papers and her frustrated shouts when she stabbed through them, of Aphrodite’s many, many angry letters home.

She wanted to ask about their troubles, but how to? Instead she puts on a smile and offered all the hugs she could and tried (really tried) not to resent them for their secrets. Or her mother for the many secrets of her own that Serenity’d gathered must still be unknown to her.

She stares at the Earth often now, wondering what it was drove her mother away from it, and even taking a telescope and straining to see the pinks and reds of roses down below. She knew Elysion – had seen its location on a map enough times – and the day she found it was the day she understood the grandeur that must lie below the Earth’s atmosphere.

The fields of roses were indeed pink – and red and white and even yellow and purple – and they grew out from the vast castle grounds in a near perfect circle. They were breath-taking, and she could really only see the patterns of their colors from this high above.

 _I wish I could go there and get my mother one,_ Serenity thought. _That would mean I was strong. That would mean I had what it took to wield the Silver Crystal…_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The night she turned thirteen her mother let her try the Silver Crystal for the first time. Her only task was to make the flower seed in its pot grow.

She knew she could do it. They crystal was warm in her hands, pulsing along with the beat of her heart. They were in sync. It would work.

 _Maybe it if works I could grow roses for Mama_ , she thought as she bit down on her lip and concentrated.

It worked! She grinned from ear to ear as the tiny green sprout shot up through the soil. Her mother and everyone who’d gathered to watch was cheering her name. She let the crystal float back towards its setting atop her mother’s staff and stood from the small throne beside her mother’s.

And fainted. Her knees buckled beneath her and bright spots filled her vision. She felt more than saw Jupiter and Venus charge forwards to steady her. Her crescent mark was burning hot!

“It’s okay,” her mother was saying. “It is an incredible amount of power for anyone to wield.” She kissed the top of Serenity’s head. “I’m very proud of you,” she whispered. “Let’s get you some rest.”

_Somehow she knows she’s dreaming. Perhaps because she rarely dreams. Everything around is dark, nary a sun, nor moon, nor star in the empty space._

_And then before her eyes a point of green sprouts from the darkness, growing into a stem with tiny thorns along its body, and up until a bud has grown on the end of the young plant. Before her eyes, it blooms into a vivid pink rose, petals unfurling perfectly._

_And then the stem fades, and so does the color, and she is looking at the outine of the flower in the darkness, noting all the swirls of pink that render the shape of the plant perfectly. As she stares, the outline grows bigger, and flatter, and then a plane of white appears behind it._

Serenity awakened with a start. The pink rose on the white background still a vivid picture in her mind. She knew that rose.

 _My mother’s door_ …

She still felt dizzy from using the silver crystal, but she pushed back the covers of her bed and tip-toed to her door, slipping out of her room without a thought for slippers.

She rarely went down to her mother’s room. She’d certainly never been inside. “The Queen’s rooms are private.” Many an advisor had told her when she was young. Eventually she’d stopped asking to see inside.

She didn’t understand the need to go there now, but felt the lingering power of the crystal urging her on as she passed other palace residents in the halls before slipping down the hallway off the throne room and then down the main route to the cellars.

She hurried to the door, holding up her hand to knock and paused.

“Frankly _milady_ you’re being ridiculous!” _Nanny Cornelia?_

“I am hardly ridiculous! If you would all listen!” _Mama?_

“I’m inclined to agree with Cornelia, Serenity,” one of the advisors sighed. “You’re over-reacting.”

“Did you not see what I saw?”

Her mother and the advisors were arguing. Serenity put her hand flat on the door and sank to the floor, putting her ear to the wood.

“Serenity is still too weak to use the crystal,” her mother said. “Its power could kill her.”

“Its power could kill you!” Cornelia shouted. “And so could the Golden Crystal. Or do you not remember trying to use that and me dragging you back to your rooms. No you don’t – because the effort knocked you out. Because you were untrained.”

“Let her use it,” one of the advisors insisted. “She’ll gain more control and it is her birthrig –”

“ _I don’t want her to fight!_ ”

Serenity put a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp. _What?_

“It’s selfish of you – all because of one page in a damn journal…”

“You know its more than a journal!” her mother fumed. “It is the only information I have – I am protecting her.”

“ _Protecting her_ or _blinding her_ ,” Cornelia said. “When are you going to tell her all she needs to know. You can’t bury the past with you, Serenity. You’re doing the same thing to her that the Terrans did to you.”

“I am nothing like the Terrans,” her mother shouted.

“Aren’t you? Frankly, you might be worse. At her age you at least knew your destiny. She doesn’t even know she could be a guardian – you’re too cowardly to find out!”

“She’s all I _have_!” her mother’s voice cracked. And then she began to whisper. Serenity pressed herself closer to the door.

“It might be ridiculous,” her mother carried on. “But I can’t let her… I am not useless in this either. I can use the Silver Crystal still – I can fight in her place.”

“ _Fight what?_ ” Cornelia said. “We’re meant to be your advisors for a reason – what in Sol has you so afraid?”

“I can’t tell you!”

Serenity heard Cornelia and several others sigh.

“I hope you know what you’re doing Milady, but I still feel…”

Serenity had heard enough. She carefully took her hand and her ear away from the door and stood, backing away down the cellar hall. As soon as she turned down another hallway, she broke into a run.

She ran out of the cellar and then, rather than put on a good face for the many people still bustling through the halls, turned towards the left, running out onto the covered walkway that led to the crystal obelisk.

When she got to it, she knelt before it, placing her hands on the crystal and then her forehead. She swallowed a sob and bit her lip to muffle more.

 _I could be a guardian and she won’t let me_ , Serenity thought. _And what did they mean the golden crystal. Could Mama use that when she lived on Earth?_

_What hasn’t she told me…_

She looked up at the sky. The Earth was barely a crescent in the sky tonight – its blue light casting a cool light across the Moon’s surface.

 _There’s so many secrets about it,_ Serenity thought. _Is she_ ever _going to tell me._

_I wish I could find out for myself._

As she cried before the crystal obelisk, she heard a sound that startled her, and then the clack of hooves against the paved walkway. Her head shot up. She whipped around and gasped.

The creature who stood behind her on the walkway whinnied again and flicked its light green tail, it bowed its head, silver horn gleaming faintly blue in the Earth-light, and it regarded Serenity with soulful pink eyes.

 _A unicorn…_ she knew them only from stories. She stood slowly, her hands open. No one had seen a unicorn in as long as she’d been alive. But she knew from the stories there used to be whole herds that ran across the castle grounds.

She held out her hand and took a step towards it, then another, and gasped again when it put its wet nose into her palm and sniffed. It flicked its green tail and moved closer to her, allowing her to pet its green mane and soft, grey hide.

“You’re beautiful.” Serenity murmured, wiping a lingering tear from her face. She pet it for a while longer before it occurred to her.

In all the stories, unicorns could fly.

“Could you…take me there,” she whispered to it, gazing up at the blue crescent. “I promise I won’t you in trouble. I just want to see it. I _need_ to see it.” she buried her face in the creature’s mane. “I know it won’t answer all my questions. But it might answer some. And maybe…” she sighed. “Maybe I could see why she liked roses so much.”

The unicorn snorted and she looked up. Her eyes widened as she saw it nod its head.

She climbed up onto its back and looked back at the palace. It was late now. Her mother had likely retired for the night. And so-too her guardians.

“Alright,” she whispered to the unicorn. “Lets go,” she kneeded her barefeet into its flanks. “I don’t suppose you could get us to the Elysion rose gardens could you?”

It snorted and turned its head to look at her. She felt as though it were rolling its eyes at her. And then she shrieked as it began to move, powerful legs racing along the walkway and then down onto the beach. It ran and ran and ran along the shore and then out to the sea.

She gasped when its hooves met the water and didn’t cause a splash. It raced along the surface of the sea leaving only the smallest of ripples in the water. She leaned into it, holding tight to its mane, and stared as first its front legs and then its back legs left the surface of the water and then began to run, up, up, up. She felt cool air on her skin and gaped with wide eyes at the ground below her.

She was flying.

“ _Woohoo_!” she shouted and lifted her hands free of its mane to feel the wind along them. Then the unicorn hit an air current and she screamed, diving back towards its mane and clinging tightly to it. Despite the scare though she was grinning. Gazing down at the Moon Kingdom’s surface one last time as they left the atmosphere and then directing her gaze towards the blue crescent, which was growing bigger and fuller as they approached. She could see light on its dark side – from fires and lights that formed clusters of varying sizes on the surface.

And then she could see not clusters but cities, and then dark blue shapes against the pitch black of the oceans. She caught sight of the pale white half-circle in the water and gasped, whipping around to see the real thing in the sky.

The Moon looked so small…

She only gazed at it for a minute before turning back to the lands and seas below her.

The unicorn was descending, circling down towards what appeared to be a large city, and then towards a hill on its northern side, and then behind that hill over massive gardens and into a border of trees. It found a break in the branches and dove for it, landing neatly on the forest floor and then walking them to the edge of the trees.

It stopped.

Serenity breathed, taking in the rich smells of the flowers and the grass and some how finding it so much _more_ than any smell she’d ever smelled on the Moon. She dismounted the unicorn, patting its neck and leaning in to nuzzle its nose.

“You’ll wait for me right?” she asked and she giggled when it snorted in response. Of course it would.

She peaked around the trees, grinning at the vast fields of flowers blanketed in moonlight. And then she raced out into them, eyes looking all around at the pinks and reds and whites and purple! She hadn’t known roses could be purple.

She wandered through them under the bright light of the Moon for a very long while, they were all just buds right now, still so pretty, but barely bloomed. They smelled so pretty!

And then she saw a red one in the middle of a row that had already unfurled, its petals rich and full and somehow soft looking. She knelt down in the cool grass and reached out to touch it.

“Who’re you?” someone asked, their voice cracking in the middle. She gasped and whirled around.

“Sorry!” she stammered. But she was relieved. It was just a boy, though he had a sword and armor that had clearly been fitted just for him. He was still just a boy. She stood, scratching the back of her head. “I um…I just wanted to see them. They’re sooo pretty.”

“I…yeah,” the boy grinned. “They are.”

“I’m…” she paused. Would an Earth boy recognize her name? “Uh,” she looked around, there in the field was a rabbit nibbling away at the grass. “I’m Bunny,”

“Bunny…” the boy smirked. “That’s a funny name.”

“Is not!” she retorted. “And what’s yours then?”

The boy looked at her and frowned. “You…don’t know?”

“Hmm…can’t say that I do,” she looked him up and down. “Nope. Don’t know you.”

“I…I’m Endymion.”

“Okay – it’s nice to meet you.” She stuck out her hand and he paused before stepping forward and extending his own. “How old are you?”

“F-fifteen,” Endymion said. “You?”

“Thirteen.”

“What are you…doing in the palace gardens.”

“I, uh.” She sighed. “I just wanted to get away – I found out my mother’s been keeping secrets from me.”

Endymion hmmed. “I know how that is.” He sighed, looking up towards the moon. “My parents never tell me anything. And I should know, you know. How can I…do their job some day if they won’t tell me things.”

“It’s so annoying,” Serenity agreed. “Is that why you’re out here so late.”

“Yeah. I come out here whenever I need to think,” he said.

“And why are you wearing armor to think?” Serenity asked.

“This is my…cause I’m training to be a knight,” he said, putting his arms on his hips. She giggled at him and he grinned. “So I can protect people – especially fair maidens like you.”

“I can protect myself just fine!” she protested. “But, I’ve never been in the rose gardens before. I could do with a tour. Someone to help me not get lost.”

“Well,” and Endymion made a dramatic show of bowing to her and extending his hand. “In that, I can be of service.”

She took his hand and held it as she let him lead her through the gardens.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Serenity grinned as the unicorn approached the forest. Endymion had said to meet here this time, rather than in the rose garden itself. They’d met five times now and each time was an exhilarating visit. He was funny and kind and very, very smart. And he was teaching her how to use his sword. Sure, it was heavier than the swords in her mother’s armoury, but Endymion said that was best – you could build your strength on a heavy blade. She also liked how, when he corrected her, he’d stand right behind her close enough that she could feel his body heat, and then the movement of his muscles as his arms guided her through swings and blocks.

 _“What are you smiling about?”_ Aphrodite had teased her one night when she caught Serenity leaning over the balcony gazing at the Earth.

“ _Nothing_ ” she’d said. It felt quite fun – having a secret of her own.

She even had secrets from Endymion now. And she knew he had secrets from her. They’d realized that very quickly. But it was something of a game. If he ever asked a question that might reveal her as a Moon resident or she asked him something that stumbled across one of his secrets, they’d both grin and tap the side of their nose with their finger.

 _“I want to tell you,”_ Endymion had said the very first night. _“But I’m afraid if I do you’ll never see me the same.”_

_“And how do I see you now?”_

_“As…as me. The person I want to be not the person I have to act like for the world.”_

She wondered if he was related to royalty then. Because she felt like that a lot. And whenever she confided in her guardians, she knew they’d felt similar things.

It was lovely to have one person which whom they could be normal.

The unicorn touched down between the trees and weaved between the trunks. Serenity ducked low lying branch after low lying branch until they reached a small clearing.

Endymion was there, a horse nearly the size of those that pulled the Jupers carriages towering over him on the left. He bowed and held out a hand to her as she stepped down from the unicorn.

“My lady-oof!” he gasped as she ignored his hand and jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing him through his armor. She hadn’t seen him in nearly a fortnight! He chuckled. “It’s nice to see you too.”

“Hi!” she grinned. “Sorry, I missed you.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he blushed. “I, uh, missed you too.” He looked over towards the unicorn and raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t even know those existed,” he breathed. “How’d _you_ get one?”

“I didn’t get one, it just came to me the night I wanted to see the gardens.”

“I –” he narrowed his eyes at her when she didn’t hold her finger to her nose. “ _True_?” she nodded. He laughed. “You’re always full of surprises.” Then he gestured to the horse and the two-step stirrups that led to the large side-saddle on its back. “Wanna go for a ride?”

“Where?” she asked.

“There’s a forest – its across the mountains from here but roses grow wild. You have to see it. the bushes grow everywhere and they wrap around all the trees and,” and he looked back towards Elysion. “And I need to tell you something, and I’m not sure if I’d have the nerve to in the palace rose garden.”

Her eyes widened. As he turned to the saddle and put his foot in the stirrup, climbing up onto the back of the huge horse. He hung his legs over the side and held his hand out to her. “If you trust me.”

She looked at the Earthling boy in his armor and realized something.

He’d left his sword behind today.

She stepped up to the horse and put her foot in the stirrup, reaching out and grasping his warm, calloused hand.

She blushed as he pulled her all the way up into the saddle and wrapped her arms around his back. He flicked the reins.

The two of them were silent as he guided them across the mountains to the wild forest, landing by a lake that reflected the full moon crystal clear on its still surface. Serenity stared around as she slid from the horse’s back. It was breath-taking.

“This place is beautiful,” she said, turning round to take in the willows that bowed their cascading tresses down over the edge of the lake’s waters, and woven among their trunks – the many, sturdy vines of wild roses.

“Here,” Endymion said, and when she looked back at him, he was holding a red rose bloom. He grinned and tucked it into her hair, held in place by one of her twin buns. “Since you’re always saying you don’t have them at home.”

“How’d you find this place?” she asked.

“I…my tutor,” Endymion said. “Told me this was a good place to go when I wanted some peace and quiet. He says there’s magic here, so that makes it sacred.”

“What kind of magic?” she was only aware of the Martians magic and only that it was great and terrible.

“All sorts – here watch.” And he held his hands out and frowned at them. She gasped as a burst of rose petals suddenly appeared in his palms, sailing up into the sky and drifting down as a rain of pink.

“I learned to do that from a dream,” Endymion said. “And I did it here for the first time.”

“Was that a spell?”

“No…there are spells. I can do a few. But that,” he caught one of the petals as it fell. “That’s something only I can do.”

“Why only you?”

And he bit his lip. “That’s…sorta why I wanted to bring you here.” He met her eyes with his deep, ocean blue ones. “I was so surprised when we met, and you didn’t know me. Because I’ve never met anyone who didn’t know my name. And I haven’t told you who I am cause well… I didn’t want to let that go.”

She nodded, and watched as he cleared his throat and reached into his armor, pulling out a chain and on the end of the chain, a crystal, as gold as the purest crowns and as bright as her mother’s own silver crystal.

 _The golden crystal_ …

“But…but only Earth’s royals can use the,” and she trailed off as he bowed to her, looking up with very wide eyes.

“I’m Endymion,” he said. “Crown Prince of Elysion.” And he stood, tucking the golden crystal back into his armor.

 _Oh no._ Her mother had said Earth’s royals were nasty people. She’d said they abused their crystal and their power and allowed evil to transform the Earth in ways that should never have been allowed.

 _But…he’s Endymion_. He was so nice and sweet and he had left his sword behind to show her he meant no ahrm. And he’d willingly let out his biggest secret.

And he talked so lovingly of the Earth – of its plants and its people and his hopes for its future...

 _Mother’s lied about a lot of things,_ Serenity decided. _Endymion’s never lied to me._

She stuck out her hand for him to shake. “Well met, Prince of Earth,” she grinned. “I could hardly see you differently when I share the same struggles.”

“The struggles of a prince?” he asked, bemused.

“Well of course – who but a princess could understand?”

And he froze eyes going to the crescent on her forehead. He’d asked about it the first day she’d met him and she’d told him that was something she couldn’t say.

“Bunny, are you from the…”

“My real name is Serenity,” she whispered, meeting his eyes with her own wide ones. She shivered. “Princess Serenity…Crown Princess of the Moon.”

He stared at her for a few more moments as she held her hand between them. She watched his gaze go from shocked to suspicious and then to resolved.

And her heart jumped as he put his hand in hers and squeezed.

“Serenity,” he breathed. “That’s a beautiful name.”

“So’s Endymion,” she said, blushing.

“And is there really a silver crystal…can you,”

“It’s my mother’s,” she said. “I can’t use it.” she sighed. “She used to live here…I thought I could find out some of her secrets…and maybe if I understood her better, I could be more like her.”

“Queen Serenity’s from _Earth!_ ” Endymion’s eyes widened. “I…I didn’t know that. I thought,” he sighed. “We don’t live long, lives like the Moon does. My ancestors, so long ago I barely remember their names, started the feud with the Moon Queen… I didn’t realize she used to live here.”

“I didn’t know until someone told me,” Serenity said. “She keeps lots of secrets – even from me!”

“My parents keep lots of their own too!” Endymion said. “They only say the feud started because the Queen tried to destroy Elysion, but Helios – that’s my tutor. He says that’s not true. But he won’t tell me anything either. He’s always like ‘you have to discover these things for yourself, Endymion,’” he said in an overy-wizened voice.

Serenity giggled. “What do you know of the feud?” she asked.

“Well – only the current stuff” he said and he turned towards the trees, leading her into the colourful woods (still holding her hand). “Like how, our trade with Uranus fell apart a few years ago and they all say that was the Moon’s fault. But apparently we’re still in the good books with Mercury.”

“Mercury?” Serenity gasped. “But they’re part of the Silver Alliance.”

“Oh, uh.”

“I won’t tell!” she said. “I… I won’t tell Earth’s secrets if you don’t tell mine. We can just talk…outside of politics.”

“As friends,” Endymion said.

“Yes!”

He grinned and squeezed her hand. “I’ve never had a friend before.”

“I…” she thought. She had her guardians but… “I’ve never had a friend like you either.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

On her fourteenth birthday she was distracted. Her mind, off in the clouds, as her mother teased. She smiled and laughed and danced her way through the hours of her party but couldn’t wait to get up to her rooms.

At last, she managed to make her excuses and exit the ball prepared in her name, and hurried up to her rooms, locking the doors behind her and scrambling to the fireplace. Sure enough, there was a charred piece of parchment in the hearth.

She unfolded it, grinning so widely her smile filled her whole face, and read Endymion’s beautiful calligraphy.

_Dear Serenity,_

_Happy Birthday! I wish I could have been there! I hope practicing the dancing helped! I’m sorry about the time I stepped on your toes. I hope your partners at the ball were better dancers than I._

_But I admit I am jealous. I was thinking after we practiced in the forest, that I’ve never gotten to see you when there were other people around. And that made me incredibly sad, I long for a day when we’ll get to meet somewhere that isn’t the forest in the middle of the night._

_You see, I fear I’d done something quite forbidden. I believe I’ve come to see you as more than a friend._

_You’re the only person that really sees_ me _, Serenity. And I’m still amazed that we’ve grown so close – when our worlds are so at odds._

_I can’t wait to be the King, and you the Queen. And maybe even if we never learn all our families’ secrets we can still put an end to this feud between us._

_It hurts the Earth. I know cause i can feel it – I’ve always felt it, ever since I was very very young. Helios says it shows how strong my connection to the Golden Crystal is._

_I can’t believe I even have the nerve to write this but I think I have feelings for you Serenity. I desperately hope you do to._

_If not, I beg of you to keep me as a friend._

_Meet soon,_

_~~Rega-your-~~ …_

_Love,_

_Endymion_

She clutched the letter to her chest.

He had said love.

“I love you too,” she whispered to her dark bedroom. She stood and raced out to the balcony. The Earth was bright and full in the sky.

She had to tell him.

She raced to write a reply, telling him to meet her, and then rushed down to the ground floor and out onto the lawns, grinning when the unicorn met her halfway.

“You know where to go,” she whispered and it did. As soon as she climbed onto its back, it had taken off, running into the air and out into space and down onto the sliver of Earth where the sun was just dawning.

When she dismounted in the wild forest, Endymion was already there.

“You said it was urgent!” he exclaimed and then gasped as she jumped at him, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing their foreheads together. He spun her and she giggled. And then he laughed as well, twirling her twice more before setting her down.

“I love you!” she said in a rush, grinning as he grinned and then turned her head and, stealing herself, pecked him on the lips.

He was blushing as red as the roses that grew around him when they parted. He kept his arms around her waist.

“Uh,” he stammered. “Happy Birthday.”

“I got your letter!”

“I figured,” he laughed.

“And no, none of the guys or girls at the ball were half as good dancers as you.”

“R-really?”

“Yes, and” she winked at him. “I’d very much like a dance now.”

He was grinning and blushing and he was so cute. His eyes sparkled as they stared into hers. “Well, I suppose I do owe you a present.” And he began to hum, as he had the first time they’d practiced the waltz and both agreed music needed to accompany it. And she joined him, the two of them twirling to their own melody as the sun rose above the trees.

They might have danced for hours before there was a rustle in the trees. Endymion jumped and Serenity yelped, the two of them breaking away from each other.

But it was only a bird, chirping as it flapped its wings and flew free of the bush.

Endymion sighed. “Serenity…” he murmured. “We… we shouldn’t keep meeting like this.”

“What?” she gasped. “Why?”

“What if we’re caught. Our Kingdoms are still forbidden to see each other. You could get hurt.”

“I don’t care about me!” she exclaimed. “I want to see you. I want to keep seeing you.” They stepped towards eachother and as his strong arms wrapped around her back she cupped his face between her hands, smiling when she felt the stubble that had recently begun to grow on his chin.

“There’s so much that could go wrong,” Endymion murmured.

“It’s too late for that,” Serenity said. “You already love me, don’t you.”

“I do,”

“And I love you too,” she whispered. And she kissed him again, more than a peck on the lips this time. She pulled him as close as she could and felt her heart soar as he kissed her back, for a moment forgetting all that stood between them.

She was just Serenity with him. Not a princess that needed protection or a girl who wasn’t a guardian. She was just a girl in love. And Endymion was just a boy. And who cared what history had planned for them. Surely if they loved eachother enough they could make the future different?

There was another rustle in the trees. But she ignored it. His lips were so warm…

“Who are you?”

“Get away from her!”

The angry shouts – one high and feminine the other low and masculine exclaimed from opposite sides of the forest. Serenity and Endymion broke apart and spun around towards the voices. Serenity stared at Sailor Venus – her arms crossed and the holy sword on her hip and gulped.

“Please,” she told Venus, holding up her hands as Mercury and Mars and Jupiter all stepped out of the trees too. “Just listen,”

“Contact between the Earth and the Moon is forbidden Serenity, Venus said, though she didn’t meet her eyes. She held out her hand to Serenity. “I’m sorry, Princess. We have to take you home.”

“That’s the Moon Princess!” a voice across the trees yelled. Serenity and her guardians looked up.

The boy who’d shouted was just Endymion’s age – shorter with a head of blond curls. He glared at Serenity and held up his hand – it was consumed by fire! “You’re bewitching our Prince!”

“ _NO!_ ” she shouted.

“Watch it!” Mars shouted. And she conjured her flaming spear, ready to charge at the Earthling knight. Would she run him through?

“Stop!” Serenity shouted, stepping between Mars and the knight. She saw Endymion do the same.

“I’m not bewitched!” he assured the knights. “I’ll…I’ll go with you, okay?”

And then another knight with his own blond curls in a ponytail stepped between Serenity and Endymion. The four soldiers closed ranks around the Prince, ushering him away into the trees.

When they’d disappeared, Venus sighed. “Come on,” she said to Serenity as Jupiter came up beside her and put her hands on her shoulders. “Let’s get you home.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

It was weeks before she heard from Endymion again, by letter. He couldn’t meet her anymore. He was being closely watched. His parents were arranging more balls at the palace in the hopes that he will meet an appropriate suitor. None of them held a candle to her beauty or her heart. His letter some how contained rose petals. She didn’t know how they survived the trip through the fire and didn’t care. She pressed them in wax and tucked them into her journal, looking at them frequently as the weeks wore on.

She continued on with her duties as the Princess, going to meetings where they didn’t really need her input and sitting in on public audience days where her mother handled everything. Her mother’s even begun training her with the Silver Crystal again but despite her patience coaching and advice, Serenity can’t make the Crystal do anything more spectacular than glow. All she can think of is Endymion. It was so unfair!

“I know this Earthling boy has addled you,” her mother said one night after Serenity’d stormed out of her lesson with the Crystal. “I understand – but you can’t be with him, Serenity. It would never work. And he would only ever ruin you. The Earthling royals – all of them – would betray you in the end.”

“He wouldn’t!” Serenity screamed at her. “standing up from her bed with her fists clenched at her sides, uncaring of the tears on her face. She glared at her mother. “Endymion’s sweet, and kind, and he always listens to me. He doesn’t even know _why_ the Earth and the Moon hate each other! He’s good, Mama. I trust him. I _love_ him.”

“Love blinds you,” her mother said.

“How would you know!” Serenity yelled back, uncaring of the doors that had slammed open on either side of her room – Venus and Mars standing in one of the doors and Jupiter standing in the other. She saw Mercury at the main door of her rooms from over her mother’s shoulder. But she carried on. “How could you possibly know anything about being in love!” Serenity shouted. “You’ve never felt what I feel!”

“Of course I have!” her mother snapped.

“Oh yeah! When?” Serenity fumed. “Or is that another thing you never cared enough to tell me!”

It was the wrong thing to say.

Her mother turned her face away from Serenity, staring at the floor. One of her hands is clenched into a fist and the other is clutched over her heart. As Serenity watched, her mother’s shoulders began to shake.

“Mama?”

The hand at her mother’s heart goes to her neck and unclips a necklace she’s always worn beneath her gown. She pulls the necklace off and holds it in her hand, extending it to Serenity.

Serenity steps forward and reaches out her hand, and her mother drops the necklace into her palm.

It’s a simple silver chain, with a single decoration on the end. Serenity gasped – a perfectly sculpted pink rose.

“Of course I care,” her mother said. Her voice was raw. “I have always cared – I have always _wanted_ to tell you…” she swallowed and stepped back. One step, two, three. “Some things, Serenity, are just too _hard_.”

And then she rushed out of Serenity’s room, Mercury dodging out of her way, and slammed the door behind her.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

They didn’t speak of it again, though Serenity passed the necklace to Luna one day during her studies and asked that she return it to her mother. She went to all her lessons and all the meetings and audiences. She paid as much attention as she could and tried to put Endymion from her mind. For a time, she even forgot to write him letters.

But she did keep his picture beneath her pillow, and she still pined for him. Often, she cried for all the nights in the gardens and the forest she would never have again, and for the companion which whom she could speak her whole mind and share her whole heart. Some nights the guardians would hear her crying and would join her in her rooms, braiding her hair or sharing snacks with her or telling her stories.

It was almost like they were real friends.

“It will work out,” Areisa said to her one night, looking over at Aphrodite. “If you truly love him…it doesn’t matter what stands in your way. That love will find a way.”

She thinks of him as the winter melts into spring and as talk begins to circle about her fifteenth birthday and her coming of age ball.

 _My dearest Endymion,_ she wrote to him a month before the festivities were to start.

_This year without you has been the worst of my life. I am so sorry I have not written. So much has happened._

_I am doing well. I have hurt my mother, I think. I am still so unsure of how to repair that hurt…it is so hard to take back words, and the hurt they leave lingers so much longer than a blade’s._

_But the guardians and I have come closer together at least. I long to be like them still, not the one they protect but the one who fights with them – I wonder do you still feel that way with your knights. They seemed so protective of you last year. It reminded me of how my own guardians try to stand in front of me…_

_I miss you so. Both your kind ear and your kind words and while it makes me blush to write, your lips as well. I dream of kissing you again._

_I am coming of age here soon – my fifteenth birthday is only four weeks from now and there is a huge ball…I know not how you would make it here but I dream that you could actually attend, and we could dance on a real dance floor without having to hide._

_I understand if you’ve found a girl on Earth who suits you but I hope we may still be friends. I love you. I think I always will. I still dream of the day I am Queen and you’re King and we might truly be together again._

_Forever yours,_

_Serenity._

The day of her coming of age ball was a big to-do because _everyone_ was there: Uranus and Neptune in their rarely seen civilian forms, and all four of her guardians in theirs. Even the young Saturni princess (whom her mother said was still too young yet to be a guardian) had come, clutching her father’s trousers as she peeked out from behind them.

She refused every dance after the traditional one with her mother to open the ball. Even flirty Uranus couldn’t tempt her to dance. She mingled among the ball’s guests, thanking them for attending and even laughing at many of their clever jokes, and stayed back by the banquet tables with the easy excuse of wanting to try every bit of the amazing food rather than dance.

And as the night wore on, she was able to make her way out to the balcony where it was cool and only the buzz of the fireflies interrupted the quiet.

She leaned over the railing and looked out at the Earth.

 _“_ Endymion _”,_ she said. “If only you were here _.”_

“I am here!” his voice called from above and she squealed, leaning further over the railing and turning her head up towards the sky.

Endymion hovered above her near the top floor – kept aloft by the powerful flying horse. He tied the beast’s reins to the balcony railing and settled him down on the balcony above before climing over the side of the palace and dropping down to her level. His feet slipped and he nearly fell, grabbing the railing to stop himself. She grabbed his shoulders, helping to pull him back up over the side.

He was grinning when he finally regained his footing. She hit him in the chest, notincing for once that he didn’t wear armor over his clothes. “You could have been hurt!”

“I don’t care,” he breathed. “I got your letter – I promise there isn’t a suitor alive I prefer to you, no matter how pretty or rich or funny they are.” He bowed and took her hand and kissed the back of it. “You’re it for me,” he said. “And I want to dance with you.”

She grinned and tried to step towards him, to put her hands on his shoulders. But he kept hold of the hand he held and pulled her towards the doors of the palace, and towards the music and the light from the dance floor. “I want to dance in front of everyone!” he said. “If you still want to…”

She was dreaming. She must have been dreaming. She squeezed his hand and felt as if she were floating as she led him through the halls and through the side door of the ballroom. She dragged him all the way into the center of the floor and ignored the gasps around them as she settled her hands on his shoulders and he put his own hands at her waist.

They simply danced, in simple steps and then elaborate ones as the music carried on and didn’t stop. He twirled her and dipped her just as they had practiced last year. His steps were perfectly in sync with hers.

As the song ended, she looked away from his deep, blue eyes at last. And directed her gaze at the many whispering onlookers, the wary Uranus and Neptune, and her own guardians who (though they looked ready to fight) were beaming at her.

And then she turned around and looked at her mother, who was staring at Endymion with impassive eyes.

“Prince,” she nodded to him. And Serenity stepped forwards, ready to defend him. But Endymion put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. He nodded to her and stepped around her, going to one knee before her mother.

“Your Majesty,” he addressed her, no hint of fear in his tone despite the silver crystal clearly visible on top of the staff in her hand. “I apologize for appearing here uninvited. You see – Serenity wished that I could dance with her on her birthday and I felt obliged to comply…but I also wished to speak with you.”

“And what does a Terran want with the people of the Moon,” the Queen asked in a cold tone.

“Only to offer an apology,” Endymion said. “For all that was done – most of which I must confess I do not know, but…” he held out one open palm to the Queen. “I do not share the prejudice of my forbearers. I do not remember nor know what events drove the Earth and the Moon apart. I only know,” he said as his voice grew more confident. “What the planet itself feels. And that is that it is tormented. It yearns for the Earth and the Moon to be in harmony once more…I offer this, I hope, as a token of my sincerity.” And suddenly a golden light encased his palm and the whole room gasped as a flower bud appeared there, unfurling into a full-bloomed, pink rose. He held it up to the Queen.

Serenity stared at her mother who stared at the flower, and held her breath as the Queen stepped up to Endymion and took the rose from his palm.

“Do you love my daughter?” she asked the Prince of Earth.

“More than my life,” Endymion answered. “More than my life and my crown and more than anything else.” He looked over at Serenity. “If she’d have me, I would marry her in a heartbeat. And not only would we love each other,” he said to the Queen. “But the Earth and Moon would be one Kingdom as they were always meant to be.”

The murmurs around the throne room were silenced as Queen Serenity held up her hand.

“That is a bold statem –”

“ _YES!_ ” Serenity squealed as she interrupted her mother, running to Endymion as he stood and jumping into his arms as he turned to her. He stumbled as she guided his face down to hers. Kissing him as hard as she could. When they broke apart they were panting. She heard her mother clear her throat and whirled around, a blush spreading over her face.

“I want to marry him,” she said to her mother.

“You’re very young,” her mother said.

“Then when I’m older, I want to marry him,” she said. “Please.” She stared at her mother. “Please.”

Her mother sighed, shook her head, and then, at last, smiled. “I can hardly tell you whom to love, Serenity.”

And then Serenity ran to her as applause and cheers burst out around the room. She hugged her mother tight and rested her face against her shoulders, feeling her mother’s own face press into her hair.

It was later in the night, and she was waving to Endymion’s horse as it left the atmosphere, when she heard her mother’s slippers pad out onto the balcony behind her.

“He is a lovely boy,” her mother said. “Helios speaks highly of him.”

“You know his tutor?”

“Helios is more than a tutor. He’s the high priest of Earth. He’s charged with keeping the golden crystal when it isn’t in use by a monarch or an heir.” She said, leaning over the balcony behind Serenity. “I’ve known his family since I left the Earth – they were the only ones I trusted to relay information to me.”

Serenity paused. This was more than she’d ever heard her mother say.

And her mother seemed to notice because she smiled and then sighed, looking up at the Earth. “There is much I haven’t told you… in order to keep you safe… and I fear I may have erred along the way and tried too hard to protect you in the name of the peace we enjoy here.” She looked at Serenity. “Some things I kept from you when you were young and when I didn’t want to burden you with them. Some things I did selfishly, I will admit, because I thought I could make your life better by withholding them.”

“And other things…” her mother continued, shaking her head. “I kept from you because I didn’t want you to know what it was… to feel dark things like hatred. I didn’t want you to grow up seeking vengeance, but forgiveness. And then even those things I knew I wanted to tell you… overtime I forgot how to say them.”

“I think I understand,” Serenity said. “I want to understand. And…I heard you. That night two years ago when I first used the crystal.”

“Hmm?”

“I heard you and the advisors say I could have been a guardian – is that true too?”

Her mother sighed. “It is. But,” she clenched her hands into fists. “That was not a fate I ever wanted for you – fighting. And I beg you this once, Serenity.” She looked at her pleadingly. “Let this go. As long as I’m alive I can use the silver crystal myself – that’s more powerful magic than any guardian’s normal powers. And it means there’s no need for you to step into the role.” She pulled Serenity close. “There’s no need for you to fight.”

 _But my friends have to!_ Serenity wanted to say. But she held her tongue.

“I think I could let you do that,” Serenity said. “If you told me the truth more often.”

Her mother chuckled. “I think I can manage that.” And she held Serenity tighter, resting her chin atop her daughter’s hair. “I will tell you as much as I can – I’m going to be quite bad at it.”

“I can be patient.”

“I am very thankful for that.” Her mother laughed. “How’s this. There’s still a week of celebrations to get on with. Afterwards – when all the guests have gone home – I will tell you the truths.”

“Even the hard ones?”

Her mother gulped. “Starting with the hard ones.” She pulled away and held Serenity’s shoulders, bending down so she could meet her eyes. They looked sad. “I am so proud of you.” She told Serenity. “And whatever happens, I want you to know: I love you. And I always will.” She was crying now. “And you’re going to make a wonderful Queen.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Mama?” Chibi Moon said as she grabbed Neo Queen Serenity’s arm. She’d just stumbled back from the obelisk with a gasp. And Chibi Moon’s eyes widened as she took in her Mama’s face – tears had begun to trail from her eyes.

Neo Queen Serenity reached up and touched her new crown, memories still racing through her head: of her final birthday and the week long celebration and Endymion’s return on the final day and unbeknown to any of them, the Dark Army just behind him. She held her other hand to her stomach, still feeling the echo of the sword she’d run through her body at the very end.

 _“You’re going to make a wonderful Queen_ …” her mother’s voice echoed in her head and she ached for the secrets she’d never had a chance to divulge, for the answers she still sought now.

“Mama?”

She turned to her future daughter and knelt down, pulling her close. “I never lied to you, right?”

“I don’t think so,” Chibi Moon said.

“Then I swear I never will,” she murmured. “Even if there’s things I can’t tell you, I’ll never lie.”

“Of course you won’t,” Chibi Moon assured her. “You’re a great Mom.”

Neo Queen Serenity sniffed. “She was too,” she said, looking at the obelisk. She saw her own eyes reflected there and for a second imagined they were another pair of light blue eyes looking back at her. She thought of the green eyes she had seen there too. Even in her new memories she couldn’t place them.

“I love you, Mama,” Chibi Moon whispered.

“I love you too.” She murmured in reply. “The first thing future me is going to do when you get back is take you here and show you what it looks like in the 31st century. And if she’s ever had to hide anything from you, she’s going to come clean.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“Of course I can!” Serenity insisted. “I’ll write myself a note.”

And the two of them broke out laughing and Serenity still crying.

“ _Sailor Moon?”_ Luna’s voice came through the communicator which now seemed to be charmed into her earring. “ _What just happened!”_

She lifted her hand and tapped the jewellery. “We’re alright Luna. I – I remember.”

“… _Everything_.”

“Everything,” Serenity confirmed. “And the Moon’s come alive again. – I can feel it!” Indeed, it seemed to pulse along with her heart beat. If she concentrated, she could feel the fish coming alive in the ocean and all the flowers and trees sprouting up across the land. There were roses now, she knew for certain. She had no idea how she’d managed that.  
“ _Well_ ,” Luna said. “ _That’s stunning.”_ She chuckled. “ _I fear you’ll remember more than I now.”_

“I doubt that,” Serenity said, and she and Chibi Moon stood, turning to gaze at the Earth. “Have the others contacted you yet.”

“ _Most of them,”_ Luna said. “ _Still standing by for Uranus call_.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~


	5. Outer Sol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter reading supplies: tissues and a cold shower ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd REALLY appreciate feedback on this one as I'm more nervous about it than most of the others... XD
> 
> AND:  
> I'll be taking on a new job at the weekend so I may be transitioning to a bi weekly schedule for May and June. weekly updates will resume in June/July ;) For now enjoy another double chapter weekend.

**Outer Sol**

“What did Usagi just do,” Ikuko Tsukino whispered, staring up at the moon which had just come alive.

Souichi Tomoe stared along with the rest of them, at the _ocean_ of water that had just filled on the Moon’s surface, and the plant life that was clearly sprouting on the barren, _atmosphere-less_ , rock.

 _Could Hotaru do that?_ Mr. Tomoe wondered.

“Kara!” he turned as Mr. Aino called his own daughter’s name. “We’re going home.”

“But _Dad_ ,”

“L-listen to your father,” Hikari Aino said.

“Wait,” Kenji Tsukino stepped away from the porch railing with his hands palm out. “I know we weren’t exactly seeing eye-to-eye in there, but you must see,” and he looked at Souichi too. “There’s nothing wrong with what our girls are.”

“Isn’t there?” Hikari Aino sniffed. “Goodness look at that – you don’t see anything wrong with some…alien, taking over your daughter’s life?”

“There’s nothing about them that is alien,” Mr. Hino said. “Our girls have past lives in a time none of us can remember and destinies tied to those old lives – they’re not alien. They’re extraordinary.”

“ _Mina was extraordinary_ ,” Hikari said. “Before she began this…sailor scout nonsense. And look what it’s done – how many aliens have come to Earth since they started appearing in the news huh?” she looked at all of them, especially at Mr. Tomoe. “The aliens that possessed you, and your daughter and your school: would they have come if they weren’t seeking out the sailor scouts. Weren’t they looking for that power all along?”

Mr. Tomoe frowned. “They wanted the Earth’s energy. The Sailor scouts did not factor into their decisions until much later.”

“And what special energy does the Earth have!” Hikari exploded. “The Sailor scouts.” She shook her head. “I barely recognize mina when she’s transformed into that…woman. Tell me you don’t see Hotaru completely change.”

“They’re the same girls.” Ikuko insisted. “Please, Ms. Aino. I know it is scary, but,” she looked at Souichi. “This is part of who they are – and the Earth would not be safe without them.”

“Well to my mind it would be in significantly less danger,” Hikari said. “You accept it if you want – I won’t stop trying to get my daughter back.” And she and Hideki Aino stormed off, dragging Kara between them as she argued with them all the way down the steps.

“Please Souichi,” Ikuko Tsukino said. “You don’t really believe Hotaru and Sailor Saturn are different people do you – this isn’t like that enemy that came here years ago.

He stared back up at the re-awakened Moon. The Death Busters had wanted energy to revive their home as well. He could still recall, in detail, their plan to bring their Tau Nebula to Earth and erase everything human on its surface. Hell, he had actively helped them towards that aim.

“I…need to think,” he said. “I’m sorry.” And then he walked away from the Shrine and hustled down the stairs, seeing the Ainos car speed off as he headed towards his own.

 _Even if Saturn is nothing like Mistress 9,_ Mr. Tomoe thought. _Will you still be Hotaru when all this is said and done?_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Jupiter’d barely let Io finish its scan before she’d dove from the castle and towards Jupiter’s thick clouds. It was a quick decent, the gravity dragging her down, down, down, towards the coordinates Io’s systems had given her.

She landed in the ocean with a mighty splash, surfacing a hundred meters or so from the shore. She gasped when she spotted the city.

Though it had clearly been worn down by millennia of storms, right down the to char marks on the castle’s tall peaks, there was no doubting its magnificence.

Jupiter swam through the ocean water, frowning as she noticed it was purple rather than blue. Was that normal? Was that the result of being left to waste for a millennia?

 _Don’t have time to think about it_ , Jupiter thought, training her eyes on the castle. It was made of pink stone (quartz? Perhaps) and stood as tall as the future Crystal Palace in Tokyo would stand, with one tower of pink crystal and stone traveling so high into the sky it pierced the orange clouds.

 _That’s were I need to go_. She’d bet anything. Artemis and Luna had said her magical point acted as a lightning rod.

She hit the beach running, white boots squelching in the thick grey marshland, and then leapt up the well-eroded cliff onto a crumbling cobblestone road.

The city rose up before her, starting as the smallest of ruins and piling up towards the palace tier by tier, each set of buildings rising above the next as the ancient road curved up the hill.

She heard something off to her left and whirled around. There was an alleyway between two of the burnt-out stone husks. She scanned around.

 _Come at me, I dare you!_ she thought as she drew lightning into her fist. It was green and pink here, she noted, the new color weaving in between her signature color.

She carried on, lightning ready, as she ran up the hill. She vaulted over the collapsed bridge that spanned the castle’s moat, then stopped on the lowest of the front steps and looked up.

She whistled as she took in the height. The place must have had at least fifty levels. Or perhaps very high ceilings. All the pink crystal and stone in the structure curved around tall, ornate, rusted, window frames whose glass panes had long-since shattered. And the windows were stacked all across the palace – in places there were more windows than walls and the pink stone between then had been carved into statues or columns with pictures adorning them. She squinted but they appeared to be too eroded to distinguish much. _Still cool_ she approached the doors – the same pink stone as the castle and twice the height of her, and frowned as she pulled on the handle.

“Who the hell locks the door in an apocalypse?” Jupiter muttered, pushing on the handle this time.

But the doors remained shut.

“Well if I have to jump, I will,” Jupiter decided, stepping back from the door and scanning above for the easiest ledge to leap to.

Then she heard it again – the sound from the alley. She whipped around, lightning crackling, and paused.

“Uh…”

The wide, equine eyes with their strange pink irises regarded her silently beneath a bright, bronze horn. She stared at the unicorn – taking in its bright white coat and electric blue mane and tail.

“H-hello,” she stammered, hearing another set of hooves on the cobblestones. Another unicorn – with darker pink eyes and a grey coat, stepped out from the shadows of two of the buildings. Then another raced around the side of the palace and leapt the moat, standing behind the first two and flicking its bright pink tail.

As she stared, more unicorns emerged from the ruins of the dead city – even a few foals who still wobbled on their young legs. When a herd of nearly twenty had filled up the square, the leading one – with its electric blue mane and bronze horn – stepped forwards, up the palace steps.

It bowed to Jupiter, and she gaped as the others followed suit.

“Y-you’re not like Helios are you?” she asked.

The hors – _unicorn_ – shook its head.

“C-can you understand me?”

The unicorn snorted.

“Right, gonna assume yes.” She held her hand out to the unicorn and laughed as it sniffed her glove and nuzzled into her palm. “Do you know how to get inside?”

The unicorn huffed and flicked its tail, stepping away from Jupiter and walking to the left, circling a design of tiles just off the main walkway. It was the symbol of Jupiter – rendered with emeralds and quartz embedded within pale, tan stones.

Jupiter watched as the unicorn lifted its left hoof and brought it down over the centremost tile.

She heard the screech and groan of long stuck hinges moving and turned around, eyes wide, taking in the room behind the opening doors.

“Holy shit,” she breathed, stepping through the massive doors.

The room appeared to be carved out of the stone – with tall, wide corridors opening up to the left and right. There were windows to an inner hall that formed a ring around the central room – a wide chamber with a ceiling that began many, many floors above. She gaped at the grand stairs – now dust-covered but clearly they had once been white – The could have fit at least twelve people across them! The stone under her feet was tan and warm, with an old rug still on the floor that trailed all the way from the front doors to the grand staircase in the center of the room – it was now brittle and, in a few places, moulded, but the rich decorations were still easy to distinguish. She took in the embroidered designs woven into it as she made her way to the stairs: of sea battles and monsters and chariot races. They even depicted jousts, foot races, javelin tossing…

And Ice skating. She grinned when she saw that one, had there been competitions? Had she won any medals?

She continued staring as she climbed the stairs, noticing the designs told a history of sorts – battles were prominent features but so-too were the sporting competitions. She could even see a few sailors woven into the fabric. And not just in her own green either – there were Sailors dressed in entirely white, a few dressed like mars and like Mercury and like Neptune. She saw one figure in Uranus navy blue and another in saturn’s purple….

The designs ended about halfway up the stairs – shortly after the depiction of one final sailor coated in sunlight beating back a comet with a sword. She paused on the final, finished image in the carpet: just after the stunning depiction of a duel between a black-haired woman and a steely-haired man, was an embroidered image of a very small child held aloft by the same woman who’d won the duel – she could just make out the well-rendered green symbol on the child’s forehead.

She swallowed as a tear dripped onto the image.

 _I had a mom_ … she realized. The woman and the child had the same green eyes.

She looked up then, turning on the stairs to take in the palace from higher above.

The ground floor was far below her, tinted orange and red by the light streaming through the many windows. And the staircase diverted off at various levels, branching out onto the balconies of seven floors that circled the ground floor. She gazed up, spying (for the first time) the skylights high above, bordered by a thin balcony of their own and, she squinted, perhaps a terrace on the outside as well.

She wanted to see everything. Had she had a room here? Several rooms? Were there stables for the unicorns? Had they existed back then? Had her mother taught her to ride them? Had they gone skating together? Had she had a father? Grandparents? Cousins?

 _Did she know how lucky she was_? Jupiter thought as she forced herself to push away her questions and turned to keep climbing up the stairs and the unembroidered section of the carpet. _To have so much…_

At last she came to the top of the stairs and was met with a plain door that, when she pulled it open, led up one final, much more narrow set. She climbed these steeper, older stairs, running her hands along the pink crystal that peaked out between cracks in the stone walls.

There was no door at the top, though the rusted hinges suggested there once had been. She hurried up the rest of the stairs and paused in the doorway, staring in awe at the sight before her.

She was up in the clouds – their orange and tan hues billowing out on all sides and up in swirling funnels towards the richer orange and browns high above. She even saw an arm of red in the distance, pink heat lightning flashing in the direction of it. She walked out onto the platform in the clouds – taking in the crumbling white and pink columns that bordered the platform, holding up a ring of stone that bordered the entire room. Yet it had no ceiling – making room for lightning, she guessed, to jump out of the clouds and connect with the massive pink crystal that grew out of the tan, tiled floor.

The crystal was just like the one Luna and Artemis had shown them when they’d explained these magical points. It was hollow – the shards of crystal nearest her shorter than the others, forming an opening that one could step into. She walked up to it, noting it’s polished appearance and uncracked exterior and how it seemed to _hum_ with energy, cracking as she approached.

When she was five feet from it the lightning reached out – leaping from some of the crystal shards and meeting her fingertips. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as it raced through her, but it didn’t hurt. It coated her in warm, pink light as she stepped closer and closer to the crystal, grinning as she sent her own green lighting back into it. It glowed green. Then pink. Then both as each color raced around chaotically within the crystal’s depths. She stepped into the center as thunder rumbled out from the crystal and echoed back to her through the surrounding clouds.

“Hi,” she said, placing both sparking hands on the hot, rose-pink crystal. Her voice cracked. “I’m home.”

In answer, thunder echoed all around her and lightning in every color from pink to blue raced through the crystal and out into the surrounding clouds.

“Can you…show me something?” she asked the crystal. “Can you…show me my family?”

She felt the hot bolt of lightning strike her on the head before she heard the deafening thunder. Then her vision was as pink as the crystal that surrounded her and she felt something both heavy and light settle in her right hand. She curled her fingers round the handle.

_“It is tradition,” her mother said as she led her down the hall, the dawn light just barely lighting the hallway. “When a royal child is old enough to train, that they allow a weapon to select them as a partner.”_

_“Weapons aren’t alive,” she said, as she raced to keep up with her mother’s long strides. Despite the early hour she was awake and already had sparks of lightning frizzing up her hair. Mother was being so mysterious! “And why are we going up here!” she said, one of her too-long legs tripping on one of the stairs. Her mother caught her by the back of her shirt before she could fall. “The weapons are in the armoury.”_

_“That is very true,” her mother smirked. “You’ll just have to find out when we get up there,” she sang._

_“_ Mother!”

_They made it to the top floor of the huge staircase and her mother held open the plain door to the steep stairs that she’d never been up before. She paused as her mother ascended the first step. Only the rulers, and the priests, and guardians were allowed up there._

_And sure, she was meant to be a guardian someday. But she was definitely not worthy to see the Eerie now._

_Her mother turned around and held her hand out. “Well, are you coming or not?”_

_“Yes!” she pushed aside her nerves and raced up the stairs, powering past her mother and pushing open the final door._

_The Eerie was beautiful! The sky was bordered by the glowing, white stone ring held up by the pink and white columns. She was so busy looking up at the sky that she didn’t notice who else was there until she heard a familiar laugh nearby._

_“Auntie Serenity! Auntie Hippolyte!” she said, pausing to bow._

_Auntie Hippolyte waved her hand and raised an eyebrow at her mother as she emerged from the stairs. “Bowing? At her age,_ really _Frigga?”_

_“It is appropriate,” her mother huffed._

_“We’re her family.”_

_“You lead this alliance,” Frigga retorted. “I’ll not have it said that it lacks manners. Besides she has to practice or she’ll be as ungainly at it as_ you!”

_She giggled along with Auntie Serenity as Auntie Hippolyte’s face flushed._

_“Sorry I’m late!” a familiar baritone echoed up the stairs and she whirled around, grinning at her Uncle’s red face under his wild beard._

_“Uncle Hermy!” she shouted, running at him and only at the last second remembering she wasn’t allowed to slam into people’s legs._

_“Lightning Bug!” he grinned, ruffling her hair as she hugged him._

_“You’re here!”_

_“Well I wasn’t gonna miss Choosing Day, was I?” he said, “I tried to get your cousins, but they sleep heavier than bears at their age – and wake worse than them too.”_

_“That’s fine,” her mother said as they all laughed. “Since I remember moody teenagers raining all over_ my Choosing Day _I can personally say it’s much better this way.” And she glared at both Auntie Hippolyte_ and _Uncle Hermy._

_“We weren’t that bad,” Hermy said._

_“I wasn’t that bad,” Hippolyte retorted. “You nearly broke her weapon knocking it over the edge.”_

_“She tried to hit me with it, Lightning Bug” Hermy assured her as she laughed at them._

“You _teased me that it was a baby weapon!”_

_“For the baby of the family,” Hermy retorted back. “It was cute.”_

_“Ugh!” Her mother shook her head. “Why did I invite you, never mind.” She gestured to the tall pink crystal that stretched up towards the sky in the center of The Eerie. “This day’s about you, Bug,” she said, beckoning her to the crystal. “Go on, stand in the middle of it.”_

_She silenced her giggling and squared her shoulders, walking past all four adults and into the center of the crystal. It sparked with lightning and she yelped._

_“Don’t be afraid,” her mother said. “Put your fighting hand on the stone.”_

_Her right hand. She held up both until she remembered which one that was, then stuck it to the crystal. Her eyes widened when pink lightning arced up over her hand, but kept it in place. The lightning tickled._

_“Now,” Auntie Hippolyte said. “We need to formally introduce you to the planet. It might get a little sparky in there.”_

_“That’s okay,” she said in a rush. “I like sparky – I am sparky.”_

_“You certainly are,” her Aunts and her Uncle and her Mother chuckled. Auntie Hippolyte nodded to her mother. “Frigga.”_

_Her mother cleared her throat._

_“Great Mother,” she began. “It is with joy that on the dawn of her fourth year, I introduce you to the latest daughter of your chosen house.”_

_“She is a child born of the storm,” Uncle Hermy added, “And heir apparent to the throne in Themiscyra.”_

_“She is a guardian of your planet power,” Auntie Serenity continued. “And of the star system beyond your mighty gravity.”_

_“She is as stubborn as your mountains and as wilful as your storms,” Auntie Hippolyte carried on. “With the grit of her late grandmother, and the big heart befitting a rightful ruler of your vast lands, oceans, and skies.”_

_“She shall speak her name now,” her mother declared, “And humbly request your blessing of the weapon which shall bear her name.”_

_She was staring up at all of them, and at the sunny sky, and at the rainbows of lightning under her hands._

_Her mother coughed._

_“Oh!” she had to speak. “Uh…my name’s Thorunn – gimme something cool.”_

_“Thorunn, I said_ humbly _!”_

_“Shh,” Auntie Hippolyte said. “It’s deciding.”_

_The crystal under her hand was hot and glowing as the lighting drew together, cracking and spitting sparks towards her as it pulsed under her hand. The colors merged from rainbow hues to green and pink, forming a handle that she grasped as soon as it was solid, pulling the hot weapon forth from the crystal as thunder boomed overhead._

Jupiter gasped as the lightning released her, dispersing back into the crystal and the clouds. She groaned and held a hand to her head, stumbling to her feet.

 _That packed a punch_ , she thought, though she was grinning. She wiped the blood that was leaking from her nose and looked down at her right hand, lifting it and the weapon whose handle fit perfectly in her grip.

 _Thorunn Friggasdotter_ was carved in white into the sleek metal of the hammer, its two powerful ends sparking with pink lightning on one side and green on the other. She gave it a swing and her eyes and grin widened as an arch of dual colored lightning shot out of it and into one of the columns, shattering it.

“I was Thor,” she realized, laughing. “I was freaking Thor!”

 _And I had a family_ , she thought, yearning to hear Frigga’s voice once more. _I wasn’t alone!_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Pluto stood on the final step of Charon castle, gazing down at the peach colored world below. Her right hand held the Garnet rod in a grip that left her fingers numb and her left hand held the doorframe so tightly that the it cracked under her fingers.

The Time Sands were exactly 1,000 kilometers below her in the ruins of Tartarus – the sparkling glass and black stone of the shattered castle easy to see even this high above.

 _They need you to go down there,_ she coached herself, though it was hard to hear over her heart thundering a double beat in her ears. _You need your powers… and memories._

Stealing herself, she lifted her right foot from the step and shifted it towards the empty space.

 _You shall never leave,_ the Queen’s voice rang in her ears. _For doing so would cause the delicate balance of the Time Sands to unravel… Only at the end of days and with express permission will you ever have need to set foot on Pluto’s grounds._

_Do you understand, Sailor Pluto?_

“I understand,” she replied aloud to the ancient Queen. “But I must,” her voice cracked and she scowled. This was ridiculous. It wasn’t as if any one still existed to exact punishment upon her.

_The weight of all Time and Space is not to be taken lightly. As Chronos mortal heir, your responsibility extends beyond the trivial concerns of humanity. For you to set foot on Pluto’s surface would spell disaster._

_“_ Yes my Queen _,”_ she caught herself saying aloud again. She froze and straightened, trying for the eleventh time to step beyond the Charon’s doors. Her foot, extended over empty space shook. She pried her fingers away from the doorframe one joint at a time until they were all free, She curled them into a fist and leaned forwards. If she just fell down to Pluto’s surface, it was hardly her fault.

_It is your duty!_

She jumped free of the steps, her heart in her throat as she fell through space towards Pluto’s ruined capital. She had a different destiny now. She had to get her powers.

_Would spell disaster…_

“Fuck!” she cursed, waving the Garnet Rod. The Time Doors opened up beneath her and she fell through them, landing on her feet in the turbulent fog and sand.

She raised her hand and they slammed shut behind her, and then punched her fist into the wood, sliding to her knees among the heavy, lavender fog.

“I can’t do it,” she growled. “I’m not destined for such power.”

_It would spell disaster._

It was forbidden.

_And I’ve already broken so many of the rules._

“The Queen would be ashamed,” she whispered. “Both of them,” For even as she recalled Queen Serenity setting her the three taboos, she knew with certainty it was the Queen of Pluto who had instructed her in the role of the Time Guardian.

How long ago had that been? She could only wonder – eons, perhaps. She could not recall the Queen’s face, nor whether she had known her before assuming her post.

 _I don’t have past memories to get back_ , Pluto reminded herself. _I’m just so old they’ve ceased to matter._ She leaned her head against the cool wood of the Time Doors. _If I am not permitted to take on anymore of Pluto’s power then so be it._

She took her communicator out. “Pluto to Lunar Command,”

“ _Hello Pluto,”_ Artemis voice patched through the communicator. “ _Status?”_

 _“_ Tartarus is a ruin,” she declared. “As are the Time Sands,”

Artemis sighed. “To be expected I suppose. Your world would be the first of any of them to suffer damage in the event of a hostile force.”

“How are the others doing?”

_“Well, Mars hasn’t found anything either. Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter all sound promising. The Moon – Luna says there’s activity on the surface, she’s getting in touch with Sailor Moon as we speak.”_

_“And the outer worlds?”_

_“Neptune reported in first – nothing, like yourself. Saturn says she’s investigating further. Uranus I’ve yet to hear from.”_

“I’ll check in with them,” Pluto promised, dismissing the call. She switched channels. “Saturn?”

When there was no response for a minute she frowned. “Hotaru?”

Still no answer. She stowed the communicator, standing up and raising her hands.

The turbulent sand and fog stilled instantly.

“Show me Saturn,” she commanded it.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

 

 

Titan said there was some activity on the surface of Saturn, but after running the scan three more times it was clear whatever it was was not yet powerful and not yet widespread.

So the shadow had visited her world, she wondered why she hadn’t dreamed of it as Neptune had.

 _Maybe I’m just not as powerful_ , she reasoned. _So I gotta find the magical point._

Simple enough – it was a dual point – magical energy accessible from both the Northern and Southern poles.

 _Saturn’s are the only points untouched by the civilization_ , Luna had said. _Both are deep in the wilderness_.

She used the Glaive to guide her down, from Titan’s tallest tower and up, around the massive rings of ice and boulders that circled her world, and over the northern pole. She hovered over it before dropping down towards the surface.

And straight into a storm.

She screamed as she landed and sank to her knees, the wind spinning around her at impossible speeds. She leapt back as something sharp sliced across her forehead. Was that glass?

 _Diamond storms,_ _her father told her as he tucked her in. “Nasty things – lost this finger in one,” he bopped her on the nose with the stump of his right index finger and she screeched and flinched away. “They whirl around everything north and south of the tropics. You can never predict when one will spring up. Many a soul’s been lost amid the winds._

_“Is that why we live up here?” she asked, looking out her window. The swirling gold and white of Saturn’s upper-most clouds loomed close to their sanctuary in the castle-in-the-rings._

_“Yes,” Her father said. “Saturn’s a wild world, my dear Kali. Has been since pre-history. And many a Saturni’s been hurt or worse by those things that lurk beneath its clouds.” He kissed her head. “But you’ll never have to be. I don’t care what the Moon Queen says, you’ll never have to wield its power.”_

She covered her head as another arm of the storm lashed out at her and gripped the glaive tighter in her hand.

 _Drop it…_ the harsh voices echoed out of the whipping winds: first as whispers and then as heavy, thundering, calls. _Drop it, drop it, drop it._

“No!” she screamed. “It isn’t time to drop it! It’s…there’s still hope.”

 _You are awake._ They declared. _Drop it drop it drop it._

“I,”

 _Drop it_.

“Don’t,”

_Drop it._

_“WANT TO_!” she screamed, and then screamed again as a wind buffeted her, knocking her off her feet and carrying her up into the air. The diamonds cut her arms, legs, and face, and contact accompanied more voices that pierced through her. _drop it, drop it, drop it._

 _Please,_ the voices began to beg. _Please, please, please._

She shook her head. “I need a reason – there is no reason, I don’t understand!”

 _Pain!_ They shouted back at her. _Pain, pain, pain, pain._

And as they shouted it louder and louder in her ears she could feel it too – like an infection in a long untreated wound it, burned through her. She screamed and shook her head as the diamond wind whipped her further up onto the air.

_Drop it. Drop it. Drop it…_

_End it. End it. End it…_

She felt her arms raising over her head holding the glaive between them. Under her hands, it began to tilt.

“I don’t want to,” she whispered even as the voices in the winds overwhelmed her. “I don’t want to.”

_Drop it. End it. Drop it. End it._

_I’m sorry!_ she thought to Sailor Moon, and Chibiusa, and especially to her mothers. _I couldn’t be strong like you._ She tilted the glaive in her hands and let gravity drag it down.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind, yanking her back out of the hold of the wind and into a place of stillness, and quiet, and lavender. She released the glaive as though it burnt, the weapon landing soundlessly in the lavender fog. She clutched tight to the white-gloved arms that held her.

“I’ve got you,” Sailor Pluto murmured in her ear. “I’ve got you. It’s alright. It’s alright.”

Sailor Saturn sniffed as she nodded, keeping her eyes closed as she tried to replace the voices in her head with Mama’s soothing words.

 _Saturn wants me to end everything!_ she thought. _Just like in the Silver Millennium._

 _I don’t want to!_ she thought as she de-transformed, short enough in her human form that Mama could pick her up and rock her. She moved her arms so they could wrap around Pluto’s neck and began to cry into her collar. _I don’t want to kill them all again._

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

It was unnerving – being back within Triton’s sparkling halls after being murdered here by Galaxia.

She left as soon as the scans were done, diving down beneath Neptune’s seas. The water was freezing, dark, and everywhere. Despite the cold she lingered deep below the surface, letting the light from her tiara illuminate the sea in turquoise light. But past rock spires and long-dead coral structures she could see no life beneath the water.

 _The splash could have been an enemy,_ she reasoned, thinking back to the vision they’d seen earlier in the week. _Or as Pluto said…that might have been the future_.

The light from her forehead highlighted something that stuck out in the undersea wasteland – a smooth plane of rock with symbols carved across the top, and the Neptune symbol embedded in blue shells down the middle.

She swam to it, beginning to feel the discomfort from lack of air.

 _I got down here in under 30 seconds_ , she reasoned. _I have enough air to see this and get back up._ She swam up to the flat plane and put her hand over the symbol.

It groaned, water rushing towards it as it fell back, kicking up a cloud of mud and sand as it revealed a cave inside.

And light from the surface…at least a hundred feet below where she’d determined the surface to be.

Neptune swam through the cave and up, towards the edge of the large, bright circle. She could see the dark outlines of cliffs as she drew closer and closer.

And breached the surface of the sea.

It looked magnificent: cliffs on all sides formed a perfect ring that rose far above the normal sea level. It could only be volcanic, she reasoned from its structure. Though perhaps the perfectly circular shape of the cliffs had been somehow human-made.

And all around the volcanic ring were ruins – blackened from fire. She swam to the nearby beach and stood on the shore to get a better look around.

The remains of the settlement were built into the cliffs – towering as high as the jagged points that marked the crest of the volcanic rock. And she could pick out the castle immediately – blackened stone that still shone through in places with its original white stone – including pumice – which might, she realized, have mimicked the look of coral.

There’s something…not right about it all, Neptune determines as she makes her way along the grey and black beach sand. _Its soot_ she frowned. _Did the end of the Silver Millennium cause a fire here?_

She covers her nose as the smell hit her: _hot, chary, and along with it a sickeningly sweet odour..._

_The smoke obscured everything along the beach as it poured out of the buildings and off the bonfires on the shore. It billowed up into the sky, completely obscured in black and grey._

Neptune whipped around, blinking furiously to dispel the vision. There was no smoke now, just the remains of it.

She examined the soot on the beach more as she carried on towards the castle ruins, trying to dispel the too-sweet scent that lingered in her nose from a life lived long, long ago.

The smell came back to her as she recognized the black marks that crawled up the sides of the castle ruins and stemmed out from the gaping holes in the stone – revealing the bare cliff face behind the once-white stone.

_She screamed as the wall exploded towards them with a mighty boom, a fireball propelling the chunks of stone and metal._

Neptune glanced away from the largest of the gaping holes in the castle’s exterior. The front doorway was intact – she could see it clearly against the light castle stones - the rim of it was painted in smoky grey and black.

 _What happened here?_ She wondered as she ascended the crumbling steps and walked through the castle doorway, in the entrance, the ash and melted hinges and handles of the ancient doors were still strewn across the tile floor.

Despite the damage to the exterior, the main corridor of the palace remained intact. She followed the floor plan she’d memorized before leaving Triton, eyes unable to look away from the red-brown stains the were splashed across the walls and floors.

The memories that had begun on the beach were even stronger here. Each glance towards a crumbled wall or shattered window glass triggered the deafening booms and roars of the explosions, each site of black soot baked into the once-white walls renewed the acrid, sweet smell of the smoke.

Neptune carried on at a fast clip, soon sprinting down the ruined central corridor. The throne room and the magical point were at the very end, deep within the cliff.

She stopped before the great double doors with the turquoise symbol of Neptune painted on each side. They were intact, not a mark on either of them. Only the floor was disturbed, more of the red-brown stains trailed out from the other side of the doors.

 _Let’s get this over with,_ Michiru thought, pushing them open with both hands.

The room was a circle, carved out of the volcanic rock. The windows, she noted, having miraculously survived whatever destruction had destroyed the palace. There were a ring of them high above, letting in light from the sky, and even taller ones that spanned the whole back wall of the cavernous room, letting the deep blue light from Neptune’s oceans stream into the ancient hall. The floor itself was a wide balcony, the three thrones on one side. And in the center was a pit. She could see the broken, narrow stairway leading down into it from where she stood.

 _That could be the fountain_ , Neptune thought, walking up to the edge of the balcony. The blue light from the ocean and the sky tinted what remained of the tile floor’s original color a light blue. The stains that were soaked into the majority of the floor were cast in black and purple light.

_“Take her!” a woman’s voice shouted over an explosion outside._

_“Guard the fountain!” a man replied back and she was suddenly scooped up under his arm as he ran. She could just see the edge of the trident in his other hand._

She swallowed the lump in her throat as she hopped over the side of the balcony, landing on one of the intact stairs that spiralled down towards the bottom of the pit.

She knew there would be no grand restoration as soon as she was close enough for her tiara to illuminate the bottom.

Where there should have been a fountain, only rumble remained – stones whose color and discoloration she (thankfully) could not discern in the low light.

Once, she thought, it might have been a powerful geyser, creating a cascade of seawater that would have decorated the throne room in a constant stream of iridescent droplets.

 _Now its as dead as the rest of this city_ , Neptune mourned as she shifted aside one of the larger chunks of rock with her foot. Perhaps the magical point might still be salvaged from beneath the debris.

It was as she shifted one of the stones that her boot knocked another loose. It rolled down the pile, exposing the bleached white bone underneath, narrow and long striations along the length of it from millennia stressed beneath the heavy stones.

Neptune put a hand over her mouth, taking a step back up the crumbling stairs.

She could see more bones now, the fractured and damaged ends of them jutting out from the pile of rubble.

And suddenly she felt very small, and very, very panicked.

_“Mommy!” she shouted, flailing her arms and legs as she looked back towards the burning castle. Her mother was at the fountain, defending it along with all the guards and –_

_Another blast sounded nearby and she screamed, more dirt and shards of rock spewing overhead. Her father shifted her as he ran so that she was clutched to his chest rather than under his arm._

_“DELPHINE!” he shouted and she cringed as she felt his arm move, his trident stabbing through something and throwing it behind them. “I want you to take Milo and,” but his voice cut off mid sentence and she shrieked as she tumbled from his arms, scrapping her palms and cracking her head against the hard ground._

_“PAPA!” she called, scrambling to her feet._

_Her father laid in the road, a smoking, glowing blue hole burned through his chest. She trembled, covering her ears and closing her eyes as she heard the heavy footsteps approaching on all sides._

_“STOP!” she shouted, her guardian birthmark glowing on her forehead. She was paralyzed for a moment as the surging power of Neptune’s sea filled her from fingers to toes, leaving her in an aqua and white uniform with a dark blue bow on the front. She lifted her hands and felt water gathering between them. What could she do?  
Then someone grabbed both her hands in theirs and lifted her off the ground. She screamed and kicked, flinching away from the knife that was suddenly pressed to her throat._

_“Don’t go all guardian powers on us now, brat.” The gruff voice snarled in her ear. “Or your mother goes the same way as your father.”_

_They had her mother…_

_“Papa,” she sobbed. “I want Papa.”_

_“We’ll leave you with the urn,” one of them snapped. “Come on – lets see what the Emperor wants done with her.”_

_She struggled against their huge hands as they dragged her along, away from her home and the explosions and Mama._

_“Milo!” she shouted. Surely Milo wouldn’t stay quiet in all this. Milo always protected her. “Milo!”_

_“Who the hell is – that dragon?” the one who held her laughed and turned and pointed at the beach around the cliff face, and the huge bonfire burning on the shore. “That’s your pet little girl,” he laughed. “Fat lot of help its claws will do you mounted on the wall.”_

Neptune gasped, closing her eyes and shaking her head as though that would dispel the images and sounds and _smells_ from her mind. She went to her knees beside the ruined fountain and put aside the Aqua Mirror lest it show her _more_ of whatever _that_ had been.

“Neptune to Lunar Command,” she reported. “The magical point is destroyed. There’s nothing I can get from it.”

“Why whatever’s happened to –”

“Let me know when the others finish up,” she said, cutting Artemis off and putting the communicator away. She pressed her right hand over the ruined stones.

“ _Neptune Planet Power,”_ she whispered, pleased when she felt the rush of water beneath her palm. A jet of seawater burst free of the pile of stone and rained down on her and the throne room above, soaking the floor and filling the chamber at a steady pace. If it continued, it would flood the whole palace.

“This place would do well to be sunk,” she whispered. “Drown it and the ghosts that linger within it.” And as she sat in the water she sighed, blinking away tears.

She picked up the Aqua Mirror again, seeing familiar deep blue eyes flash in its depths, she touched her fingers to the glass, noting the pain and confusion that filled the beautiful blue irises.

 _Haruka_ … she thought, not noticing as she and the water rising around her began to glow.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Uranus palace was covered in ice, though that seemed to be the only damage to it in the millennia since the kingdom had thrived. It didn’t give off the air of a palace at all, Sailor Uranus thought as she fell through the frigid sky overhead. Rather, the high walls build at least twenty stories above the mountain top that held it reminded her more of a fortress.

She stuck the landing in the massive courtyard with an efficient duck and roll, on her feet with sword in hand no worse for wear.

The high walls appeared like a wall of skyscrapers, accessible (she raised her eyebrows) by wide archways on every floor that ringed around the whole courtyard like those at the collosseum in Rome.

They were all the same width and height. She walked up to one on the ground floor.

 _You could fly a heliocopter through here…_ she thought, noting the archway led into an equally wide, tall corridor.

There were small, single person balconies on the upperfloors, accessible by equally narrow sets of rusted and crumbling stairs. They didn’t seem like a functional way to carry heavy palace foot traffic.

Unless…there had been very little foot traffic.

She held her suspicions in as she wandered into the palace, taking in the halls wide enough to fit a biplane comfortably…or fit two, perhaps three people and their wingspans…

She confirmed it when she reached the open, cylindrical portrait hall – the ceiling of which was a dome of glass – and took in the portraits that hung as high as twenty floors above.

Most of them had incredibly long, blond hair, grey eyes, and (she grinned) bright blue, butterfly-like wings.

 _Uranians could fly_ , she thought as she turned round, taking in all the portraits within her sightline. _I could fly._

She could already picture it as she jumped up to the second floor of the portrait hall and then the third, fourth, and upwards, seeking out her face in the sea of oil canvases. _I bet I was the fastest flier in the palace_ , she reasoned.

She continued up, knowing from her hasty scan on Miranda that Uranus’ magical point was somewhere on the uppermost level, likely part of the mountain the castle had been built into. She ambled along each of the narrow, rusted balconies as she ascended through the portrait hall, taking in the many portraits of long blond haired and grey eyes kings and princes. _Did I have grey eyes then too?_ She pondered. _Or was blue just uncommon?_

But there were no blue eyed portraits on the walls – grey and brown, but none blue.

And there was something else odd about the portrait hall, she concluded as she climbed past the sixth level. Her brows furrowed in confusion. Where were the portraits of the Queens and Princesses?

 _Maybe they get a different portrait hall_ , she concluded, though it felt like a giant lie.

It was as she passed the seventh level that she noticed an anomaly among the other portraits, close to two high-backed chairs built right into the wall was a portrait of a boy with the same blue wings and grey eyes as the others – but with long, green tresses that reminded her of Neptunes. And the whole portrait was ringed by charred black wood

 

Curious, she walked along the balcony until she reached it – positioned right above the smaller of the two thrones. She stepped up onto the arm of the great, golden chair and reached up her arms, lifting the portrait free of the wall.

Behind it, the wall was blackened in a starburst of charcoal, arrow holes riddled the wall.

_“I should have known when they said you were the guardian!” her father thundered, and she coughed as his hands lifted her up by the throat. Over his shoulder, her dark blue eyes stared back at her from her portrait, and she watched as they, and her blue wings and her long hair were all eaten away by the flaming arrows wedged through the canvas, the gold frame melting over the placard with Aether engraved across it._

_Her father’s hands constricted tighter around her throat and she wheezed, struggling in his grip._

_“Papa,”she coughed._

_“Don’t call me that!” he thundered “Only an heir can call me that.”_

_“I,”_

_“You’re not!” her roared, shaking her. “You’ve never been.”_

_Spots clouded her vision as she gasped in wheeze after wheeze of air. But not enough air. She closed her eyes._

_The long-dormant symbol on her forehead glowed bright yellow and with a grimace, her father released her neck, rubbing his hand. She unfurled her wings, intending to fly away. Something sharp stabbed through her left wing. She screamed. Two arms grabbed hers on either side as she fell._

Uranus gasped as she came out of the vision, losing her footing on the small throne stabbing her Space Sword into the wall to keep from plummeting down several more stories. She climbed back onto the narrow balcony and rubbed her throat.

 _What the hell was that_.

She looked at the portrait right over the taller of the two thrones – a man with the young boy’s grey eyes and the same blond hair as most of the other portraits – peppered through with grey. A gleaming golden crown sat atop his brow.

 _Cronus_ …

 _I hope I exacted justice to you,_ she thought as she climbed towards the top floor. _But then why would your portrait still be here…_

She finally stood just below the glass dome on the top most floor, taking in the countless royal faces the lined the cylindrical walls.

She shook her head. Turning to look at the archways that led out of this room. She could dwell on it later – like when she had a gas pedal under her foot or a punching bag in front of her fist.

 _Maybe Pluto can break the rules just once and show me the history of this place,_ she thought as she headed down the hall that seemed to have blue and yellow light shining from somewhere within.

 _Nah,_ Uranus rolled her eyes. _She’d say “history is best left to self discovery Haruka. If I showed you what happened, You might get a limited perspective. It would be like showing you what to think._

She sighed, _Even if I want answers?_

 _Answers are never truly satisfying without the search for them._ Setsuna would say. _But something that does help is tea._

Haruka snorted. Two years ago the Time Guardian hadn’t even known if she’d liked tea and now she was responsible for two entire cabinets worth of the stuff at home.

 _Screw exploring,_ she thought as she reached another turn in the corridor and had to decide between the left and right. She ran left. She hit a dead end. She ran back the other way. _As soon as I find this magic point thing, all I want is tea and Michiru and Se…_ she shook her head, blushing. _I love Michiru._ She repeated to herself. _That hasn’t changed._ She repeated it to herself as she stormed down the hallway towards the faint blue and yellow light that bounced off the lamps and pictures and mirrors.

 _And where is this damn glow coming from!_ she scowled. She’d been pacing the accursed hallway back and forth for about five minutes, checking behind the dusty picture frames, tugging on the candlesticks, and kicking in all the massive, brittle, wooden doors.

Something dropped on her nose. Water? She felt another droplet. And another. She looked up.

There was a wooden hatch in the ceiling – over fifteen feet above – water raining down between the cracks that also spread the blue-yellow glow over to all the hallway’s shiny objects.

 _Why wouldn’t they make stairs to this one?_ She complained as she sent a space sword blaster at the hatch.

She regretted it instantly, a veritable tidal wave crashing into her as the hatch holding it back was smashed to bits.

“Uranus?” Neptune’s melodic voice echoed from the room above.

 _Huh?_ She shook the water out of her hair and jumped up, through the open hatch.

She landed in a puddle of seawater and glanced around. “Neptune!” she grinned, racing up to her and catching Sailor Neptune around the waist as she threw herself at Uranus. “How’d you get here.”

“I’m not entirely sure…” Neptune murmured, leaning back so she could kiss her. “I had the sense you were unsettled and I happened to be at Neptune’s magical point at the time.”

“You teleported here,” Uranus eyes widened. That…normally required four of them to pull off.

“It seems so,” Neptune glanced around. “I take it this is Uranus’ magical point then.”

“I…” she had to stop for a moment, to drink it all in.

They were standing on a dais, an iridescent crystal of bright yellow and sky blue lit the room in the same hues as the brightest, clearest day. All its facets glowed, their light reflecting off the grey, mountain stone and merging with the light of hundreds of smaller crystals the grew as stalagmites and stalactites all over the floors and ceiling.

“I wonder if mine looked this beautiful,” Neptune murmured.

“If?” Uranus asked, dismissing the Space Sword as Neptune did her mirror so they could hold each other’s hand.

“It was destroyed,” Neptune said. “I was able to activate the magical point itself but…” She shook her head. “Something very bad happened on Neptune a thousand years ago,”

“I feel the same about here,” Uranus said. “I…” she turned towards the large crystal behind them. “I wanted you here,” she whispered. “Do you think it reached out…and that helped you teleport?”

“Entirely possible.” Neptune pulled out of their hug but kept their left hands clasped. She pointed to the crystal. “You should try,” she said. “See if you can access more of its power.”

Uranus took a deep breath and nodded, raised her free hand to the crystal, and hesitated.

Neptune squeezed her hand. “I’m right here.”

She set her palm against the cool yellow and blue crystal. “ _Uranus Planet Power_ ,” she whispered as the yellow light from her forehead rushed into the crystal.

It flared up brightly under her hand.

“Uranus?” Neptune murmured as her partner’s hand squeezed hers tighter.

“It’s so sad,” Uranus whispered, pupils reflecting the yellow and blue light of the crystal under her hand. “I don’t even recall why but it feels so sad.”

 _The Planet_ , Neptune realized as she drew closer, covering the hand Uranus held to the crystal with her own.

Uranus turned to look at her, advice from a source long forgotten ringing through her mind.

 _You’re secret’s hard to keep and not because its obvious,_ a mentor had once advised her. _It ain’t a secret that’s meant to be kept. You won’t be able to breathe right until you stop trying to hide it._

Neptune drew close to her, rising up on the toes of her white boots and releasing one of Uranus hands to caress her cheek.

“I love Setsuna,” Uranus whispered when their lips were about to touch. “I-I mean: I love you. I always have. I always will,” she said, tripping over her words as Neptune raised her eyebrows and stared intently at her. “But I love Setsuna too.”

“And how long have you felt that.”  
“Felt… a while… owned up to…just,”

“Just now.”

“I’m s –” but Neptune silenced her apology with a kiss that made her toes curl. She pulled back frowning. “I’m confused,”

Neptune giggled, beaming at her. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

“Huh?”

“I was going to talk to you about it when all of this had calmed down.” Neptune grinned. “But thank you for starting the conversation for me.” She kissed her again, deeper this time, pressing Uranus back against the glowing crystal behind them. “I love her,” Neptune whispered, breath tickling her nose. “And I love you.”

“Both?”

“Both,” Neptune confirmed.

“So,” Uranus said as they broke away from another kiss to catch their breath. She gave in to her weak knees and sank down onto the dais, Neptune laughing as she pulled her into her lap. “This…isn’t a problem,”

“Au contraire,” Neptune breathed. “I foresee this being very, very good.”

She grinned. She felt giddy. And so did the planet – she could feel it – her own joy multiplied a hundred fold by the power in the crystal at her back – and it the smaller crystals that lit up all around the room.

“You’re beautiful,” Neptune whispered, fingers twisting into her collar and pulling her in for yet another kiss.

“Are we…really doing this here?”

“I’ve had a very long bad day,” Neptune told her. “And so have you.” One of her fingers traced a heart over Uranus collarbone. “So unless you have a better idea.”

“This,” Uranus insisted.

“ _Lunar Command to Uranus_ ,” Artemis crackling voice interrupted them. “ _Everything alright out there.”_

“Stupid cat,” she muttered, grabbing the communicator in a hand that she could really be putting to much better uses. Neptune was still tracing hearts over her collarbone. “Everything’s fine. We – I’ll be done in a bit.” She tossed the communicator across the floor and flipped them over before Neptune could tease her. “Where were we?” she murmured.

In answer, Neptune waved her hand over the star at the center of her bow, and her whole uniform unravelled into a flurry of turquoise ribbons. She smirked at Uranus. “You’re staring.”

“I can’t help it.” Uranus defended, waving a hand over the star on her own uniform. Bright yellow ribbons mingled with turquoise in the bright room.

As the came together again, the yellow and turquoise of their magic lingering in the air, the magical crystals that comprised Uranus heart glowed as brightly as Sol itself, lit with the feelings of love and joy it had not felt in eons.

~ _Á Suivre~_


	6. Breaking News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new enemy is closing in on Earth and the scouts have just returned from their homeworld visits - with mixed success accessing their memories and potential powers. But they wont have time to focus on the enemy for very long - the human world is about to throw a huge wrench into their plans.

**Breaking News**

It didn’t understand. This petty blue _rock_ surrounded by clouds of mortal trash was the guardians stronghold? It extended its senses towards the world and screeched: this pathetic bit of stellar waste was not even active. Though it was certainly alive – could the guardians have retreated here as the other worlds in this system died? And where were they, it scanned across the dark side of the rock. Nothing. Not a guardian signature anywhere.

_Where had the lights gone?_

It moved its asteroid closer. Careful as always to keep out of Sol’s damn light.

It wouldn’t be long now though. Even if it had to wait, as it had with many stars, it would. Sol would fall, and then, perhaps Centauri, and onwards, until all the arms of this material giant were dust and the Cosmos cauldron returned to its natural state once more.

Perhaps it could take this world, unprotected as it was, while the guardians were gone. Or perhaps it could lie in wait. That they would leave clearly indicated its old foe had not managed to leave any warning for their descendents.

It positioned its asteroid just so, until the pathetic mass of the inactive world blocked all of Sol’s light. And then, it released the asteroid, letting out another screech as it shot towards the atmosphere.

It uncoiled its form, could sense the threshold of the atmosphere just ahead, when the bright, silver light slammed into it. It shot backwards, retreating into the protective core of its host asteroid.

 _How_. This world’s essence had clearly been gold. It drew the asteroid further away from the planet’s orbit.

The light shield enveloped the whole rock. It reeked of a guardian’s power.

 _Sol hadn’t had a silver essense_ it gathered itself and concentrated, probing around the world. The rock’s gold essense was still there, dormant in its core. _Where does the silver come from._

From behind it. it shifted its attention further away and hissed.

_The satellite!_

_Satellites do not have guardians!_ It fumed. They were even more a waste than the planetary offspring of the stars. They did not _have_ star seeds.

But this one certainly did, it shown brighter than even the planets it had attacked. It moved closer to the strange entity.

 _Active. Alive – freshly alive._ It hissed. _Guardians…._ two of their bright lights blazing on the surface.

 _Well well_ , it searched through its memory for anything of the like but could come up with none. Perhaps its old adversary had acquired more tricks in her meagre existence than it had assumed.

 _Then I shall take this satellite as well_. It screeched so loudly the glass of a nearby piece of mortal junk shattered and five pieces of its darkness split away with their own powerful lights within.

Three, it sent down to the blue world, pleased when they did not trigger the shield.

And two, it send onwards towards the strange, living, moon.

It did not matter what tricks these guardians had. They would fall. As _Pog_ had, as _Caster_ had, as _Pollux_ , _Beltegeuse, Bellatrix,_ and _Sirius,_ and all the others had.

It watched the three dark spots of energy easily dip beneath the atmosphere as the silver shield faded in intensity.

And then it looked around, the final two had been successful in breaching the Moon’s surface.

It coiled within its asteroid as it drifted just outside the planet’s gravitational pull and waited.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“ _Sailor Moon_ ,” Luna’s voice in Neo Queen Serenity’s ear interrupted she and Chibi Moon as they sat on the beach below the Crystal Obelisk, having been talking about everything Serenity could now remember. “ _All the others have reported back. They’re ready to teleport._ ”

“Got it, thanks Luna,” she said as she and Chibi Moon stood and made their way back up to the crystal obelisk. She wondered if any of the others had regained their full memories as well. She hoped Uranus or Neptune had. Perhaps they had known some of her mothers secrets.

Or perhaps they could read the journals. She found even with her memories, the languages were nothing like the Lunarian she remembered.

“ _Ready_ ,” Luna announced as Serenity and Chibi Moon clasped hands and stood beside the Obelisk. They closed their eyes and it began to glow.

Chibi Moon could already feel the teleportation taking affect as the energy of the other, distant sailors joined her own. She took a deep breath.

And just before the teleportation began, she felt Serenity release her hand.

“Huh?” she turned, disconnecting from the spell. Her future mother stood at the edge of the Crystal Obelisk’s platform, staring down the coast of the Mare Serenitas with an alert, serious gaze.

“Mama?” she asked, coming up beside her.

She frowned as she looked down at her. “You didn’t join the teleport?”

“Not without you,” Chibi Moon protested, putting her hands on her hips. “Why’d you let go?”

Serenity looked back out over the Moon’s surface and pointed towards the lavender hills on the horizon. “Something entered the atmosphere.”

“You could _sense_ it?” Chibi Moon gaped. _Can Mama do that in the future too?_

“Mhmm,” Serenity held her arm out and Chibi Moon’s eyes widened as the Eternal Sailor Moon’s Tiare appeared there, before changing shape into the familiar appearance of her Mother’s future Moon Sceptre. “Wait here,” she said.

“Yeah right!” Chibi Moon retorted. “If there’s something evil here I’m going with you.”

“Chibi Moon,”

“Nuh-uh,” she pointed at Neo Queen Serenity, pushing back the unease of nagging Serenity who now looked near-identical to Chibi Moon’s future mother. “You need back up – I’m coming.”

Serenity stared at her for only a moment longer before nodding. “Right – come on.” And Eternal Sailor Moon’s wings appeared behind the Queen. Chibi Moon reached up to clasp her hand.

They soared over the Moon’s surface at a rapid pace, Chibi Moon trying not to be distracted by the now lush surface below. There were even some buildings!

Serenity, for her part, scanned the surface intermittently, keeping her eyes poised ahead. They’d crested the hills in just under thirty seconds of flight and Chibi Moon marvelled at the speed.

“There!” Serenity pointed.

 _The badlands_ , they must have been. Chibi Moon could see the burnt out husks of ruins half buried in the ground and sparse grass peaking out across the otherwise barren stretch of plains.

Serenity landed them in the middle of the plain and Chibi Moon immediately rushed to cover her back, drawing her pink sceptre.

“It landed here,” Serenity said, her voice low and serious. “It’s trying to hide in the Moon’s heart.” She raised the sceptre above her and silver light began to glow from the top. “ _Moon Crystal Power!”_ she whispered. The ground around them began to glow the same silver as the sceptre.

Chibi Moon saw it first – the dark spot that seeped out of the ground and then shot up into the air. “There!” she shouted, raising her sceptre. “ _Moon Gorgeous Meditation!”_ the rainbow of light shot through the air when the shadow suddenly stretched and split in two, avoiding the attack entirely as the now two shadows both grew bigger – one glowing faintly blue in the center and the other bright pink.

“Look out!” Serenity grabbed her about the shoulders, turning to put Chibi Moon behind her and leaping back as two blasts of shadow energy shot towards them faster than they could blink. Chibi Moon peeked out from behind Serenity’s skirt and gasped.

The two shadows’ attacks had hit the plains at a spin – kicking up a twister of dark energy in their wake. It rose into the sky, tearing up the ground. She and Serenity both raised an arm to cover their eyes. And from the looks of the lights in their centers, the two shadows were conjuring another attack.

Serenity moving the arm that held her sceptre out to cover Chibi Moon.

 _But I’m the senshi now,_ Chibi Moon thought, running out in front of her future mother. _I don’t need her to protect me anymore._ “I’ve got this!” She raised her sceptre in both hands. “ _Moon Freezing Heartache!”_

Her eyes widened as the attack left her lips and along with it a blast of icy wind that carried sparkling pink snowflakes in a fast moving spiral. It hit the black cyclone from the side, merging with it, the black energy freezing and dispersing as harmless flecks of snow and ice until both twisters had vanished.

“That was new,” Serenity murmured. Chibi Moon was still staring at the sceptre in her hands as Serenity raised her own once more. “ _Starlight Honeymoon Therapy KISS!_ ” she cried and the dazzling attack spanned out in a wide array from her sceptre – trapping both shadows in its brilliant light.

When the shadows screamed, both of them stiffened.

They’d heard enough youma and daimons scream in their long years as senshi to be able to tell the difference - _these_ daimons screamed like humans.

Chibi Moon gulped. Serenity held out her open palm as the attack faded, two small, gleaming objects shot towards her from where the shadows had been.

Chibi Moon stood on her tip-toes to see as Serenity examined them closely. In her hand, the objects gleamed in the blue light that the Earth was casting over this part of the Moon. They had smooth plains and defined edges on one side, and rough ones on the other as though they’d been cut from something larger.

Serenity closed her hand quickly around them, but Chibi Moon had already gotten a good look. They were clearly two splinters of crystal.

“Where did they come from,” Chibi Moon whispered.

“I don’t know,” Serenity said, dismissing her sceptre and extending her now free hand. “Come on – we need to have Luna and Athena examine these?”

“Who’s Athena?”

“Ahh,” Serenity blushed. “I meant Ami.” She shook her head, her past life’s memories still in the forefront of her mind.

“That makes total sense.” Chibi Moon nodded, taking Serenity’s hand. “Are we gonna fly back.”

“We could…but I feel like I can…” she closed her eyes and after a moment nodded. “Yes. I think I can – hold on tight.”

Chibi Moon stepped closer to her, tightening her grip and gazing curiously up at her future mother.

The crescent on her forehead began to glow bright white.

“ _Sailor Teleport!_ ”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Minako paced the tiled floor of the Lunar Command Centre for the 65th time, passing Haruka, who’d just completed her 71st lap across the room.

The others weren’t much better. Setsuna and Ami stared frantically at the monitors with Luna and Artemis, hitting the buttons just a tad too hard. Rei was drumming her fingers silently against her arm and Makoto couldn’t seem to help passing her mysterious new hammer back and forth between her hands. Michiru stood behind Hotaru, gazing intently at the computer monitors, her hands on the girl’s shoulders seemingly the only thing keeping them both calm.

They’d all landed here safe and sound after the gargantuan task of combining their powers from so far apart to complete the teleport, and promptly all de-transformed from the effort.

It was only afterwards that they had realized Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon had not returned with them.

“Sailor Moon!” Luna tried once more from the computer’s communicator. But all she got in response was static.

“They’re alright,” Setsuna murmured. Though as this was the fourth time she’d said this, it sounded even less sure than the third time. It almost seemed as if she were trying to convince herself. “I didn’t see anything amiss. I should _certainly_ have noticed something in Sailor Moon’s immediate timeline.

“Doesn’t explain why she’s not answering,” Minako muttered as she completed lap 68.

Just then, a bright light appeared in the middle of the command center, startling Minako and Haruka as it nearly hit them both. They all gasped as the light dispersed, revealing Chibi Moon and Neo Queen Serenity in the middle of it.

“Sorry I didn’t answer, Luna,” she releasing Chibi Moon’s hand and keeping her other closed in a fist at her side. “We were a little busy.”

“Pri – My Queen!” Minako realized and knelt along with Haruka as the others swiftly followed.

Neo Queen Serenity put her free hand on Minako’s shoulder and then on Haruka’s “Please don’t,” she smiled, flashing briefly white again. Her long gown fading into her newest tee shirt and skirt. “I’m still just Usagi.”

As they stood though, she saw their eyes widen, and as she looked around the room she met similar shocked expressions from Luna, Artemis, and the others. “What?”

“Your crescent,” Chibi Moon said, pointing.

Michiru walked forwards and held the Aqua Mirror for her.

The crescent moon was, indeed, still visible in the centre of her forehead.

“I think this means you’re Serenity all the time now…” Rei whispered.

“No,” she shook her head, meeting all of their eyes squarely. “She’ll always be a part of me. But Usagi is me, now. Even when I’m Queen…” she touched the reflection of her crescent in the mirror. “ _Now_ that I’m Queen… I’m still Usagi.”

Then she held up her fist and opened it, the same reaction she and Chibi Moon had had appeared on the other sailors’ faces as they looked at the splinters of crystal. “I need you to analyse these for me,” she told Ami, Luna, and Artemis. “They used to be two shadows we fought before coming back.”

“This is one of the enemy then,” Haruka said.

“Mhmm.” Usagi nodded, her crescent mark gleaming under the light as she handed the splinters to Ami. She looked around at all of them. “Did you get your powers?”

Haruka blushed and looked away, Minako bit her lip. Makoto glanced down at her hammer and Ami over at a blue helmet she’d left on the console. Rei stared down at the floor. And Setsuna and Michiru both drew close to Hotaru as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Uh,” Minako said. “Not…exactly.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Do I _have_ to,” Hotaru whined as she followed Michiru and Setsuna into the penthouse.

“The answer doesn’t change just because you make your voice higher every time you ask,” Haruka teased, closing and locking the door behind her.

Hotaru sighed. But her voice returned to its normal pitch.

 _Thank god_ , Haruka thought. _Who knew the kid could whine better than Usagi?_

“But… it’s a Friday…we won’t do anything that important… and Papa can just ask my teachers what the homework is!” Hotaru said.

Haruka sighed. “Kiddo, if it were up to me…” she trailed off as she looked at Michiru and Setsuna’s stern expressions. “I mean if it were me, I’d go to school.”

“No you wouldn’t!” Hotaru scoffed, moving further into the house and over to her favorite spot in the middle of the couch. “ _You’d_ go to the race track or you’d run across half of Tokyo or you’d ‘cuddle,’” she said making clear air-quotes with her fingers, “with Michiru-mama all day.”

“I-I-I-would want to… uh, yeah.” She stood in the doorway knowing her face was red and looked pleadingly at Michiru and Setsuna.

“And I would want to spend time with Haruka and Setsuna,” Michiru said, walking up to the couch and putting a hand on Hotaru’s shoulder as she sat down on her left. “And play something by bach, and paint until I ran out of canvas.” She squeezed Hotaru’s shoulder. “But I would still go to school.”

“ _Why?”_ Hotaru sulked as Haruka moved to plop down on her other side, leaving space for Setsuna to perch on the arm of the couch.

Michiru and Haruka exchanged looks with Setsuna. Hotaru’d refused the whole car ride to tell them what happened on Saturn.

Setsuna nodded, indicating she’d fill them in later and told Hotaru: “for the same reason I’d go to work instead of hiding in my office or behind the time doors or even in the botanical gardens all day.” She leaned around Haruka to make sure Hotaru was looking at her. “When we have a tough battle, all of us want to retreat to where we’re most comfortable.” She said. “but for all of us – and I’m sure for you too, that usually means we’re by ourselves, or with each other. And what’s the first thing we start worrying about when there’s too much time to think.”

Hotaru looked away and sighed, sinking back into the couch cushions. “Sailor stuff,” she muttered.

“Exactly,” Michiru said, putting her arm around Hotaru’s shoulders. “It is _good_ to have other things to distract you.” She smiled as Hotaru leaned closer to her. “And you have a duty to your normal life too – you’ll be in junior high school in just two years, you know. Your high school entrance exams won’t pass themselves.”

“ _It’s too early to think about that!”_ Haruka and Hotaru both chorused with the same mortified expression. When they realized, it sent all four of them into fits of laughter.

Hotaru sighed, now finally smiling. “Fine – I’ll go to school.” She giggled and made a face as Setsuna reached out to ruffle her hair. “But can I skip my English cram school?”

“I think we can agree to that,” Haruka said, knowing by saying it _she’d_ be the one to tell Hotaru’s father (since the cram school had been _his_ idea).

“Okay – and we can have movie night now, right?” Hotaru asked.

“If you finished your homework from yesterday.”

“I did,” Hotaru said straight-faced while hiding her right hand down by her side so she could cross her fingers.

She had a feeling they noticed. But none of them called her on it.

“I think you have time for a short movie,” Setsuna said. “Hurry and pick one out.”

“Okay!”

In the end, the kid made it through half of the movie before she passed out on the couch, leaving it to Haruka to carry her off to bed.

Setsuna sighed as Michiru switched off the television and the annoying music along with it. She rubbed her hands over her temples.

“Headache?” Michiru asked as Setsuna slid down onto the couch.

“Mhmm,” she’d had one since leaving Pluto and had been able to ignore it until now, but was beginning to feel the fatigue. “I’m fine though – Michiru?”

Michiru’d left the couch. She walked through the door to the kitchen and emerged with a plastic bottle in her hand. She unscrewed the top as she walked back and tilted it into her palm – presenting Setsuna with two of the pills.

She waved her hand and tried to shake her head but quickly stopped as it made the headache worse. “It’s a magic headache.”

Michiru snorted. “And you’re a human with a human brain. Doesn’t matter what causes it.”

“It just has to do with the time thing,” Setsuna insisted. She was the eternal guardian of time for goodness sakes. She wasn’t so weak she needed human medicine.

“You know I’d never believed what they said about doctors until I met you,” Michiru said, taking her hand and dropping the two pills into her palm. “You _do_ make the worst patient.”

“I’m not a doctor, I’m a school nurse.”

“Same thing,” Michiru said, crossing her arms and staring at Setsuna with one eyebrow raised. “Humor me.”

Setsuna rolled her eyes but took the pills, and Michiru smiled at her. “There,” and then she leaned in and kissed the top of Setsuna’s head. “Hotaru claims those help too,” she said, sitting down on the couch once more, closer than she’d been before.

“Th-thank you,” Setsuna blushed as she chuckled. Michiru was acting more forward than usual. _It doesn’t mean anything_ , she had to remind herself again.

They turned as they heard a door click shut down the hall and the near-silent steps of Haruka’s socks across the wood floors. A moment later, she sauntered into the living room.

“Kid’s asleep,” she said, sitting down, not next to Michiru, but squeezing in beside Setsuna. “Is it an all nighter sort of night?”

“Likely – you’ll need a long movie, or several,” Setsuna said as she made room for Haruka.

Haruka nodded, leaning over to pick up the remote and then settling back down by Setsuna’s side. She flicked through the available titles and clicked one she liked, making sure the volume was on low enough that they could hear Hotaru if she began to stir. The whole point of their inter-mitten all-nighters was to be awake on nights Setsuna predicted Hotaru’d have a bad nightmare, or several.

“She’ll tell each of you she’s fine when you go in to check on her,” Setsuna advised. “Tuck her back in anyways.”

“Always do,” Michiru said, tilting her head and resting it on Setsuna’s upper arm. “She thinks she’s so good at putting on a face, she forgets who she learned it from.”

“She still likes being called Sweet Pea, right? Or am I just hoping she’s not too old now?” Haruka said, surprising Setsuna when she settled her own head against her shoulder.

“She still likes it, but you’re going to have to put up with her telling you not to call her that for a while yet,” Setsuna told her, looking between Haruka and Michiru resting against either side of her. “You’re both… clingy tonight.”

“It was a very,” Michiru yawned.

“Long day,” Haruka finished. “Don’t suppose you remember anything about our past lives, huh? I wouldn’t mind just being told and not having to remember it myself.”

Setsuna shook her head before realizing neither of them could see. “I don’t. Serenity had me focused on extra-solar threats. I didn’t look in on the planets much.”

“Just as well,” Michiru said, leaning more heavily against Setsuna.

“Why?” She steeled herself and then hesitantly readjusted her arm so that Michiru could rest against her side with Setsuna’s arm around her.

She tried to ignore the silly fluttery feeling in her heart when Michiru relaxed towards her even more Michiru voiced a contented hum and continued. “I don’t think I’m ready to know anything else about _that past_ just yet.”

“Same,” Haruka said, eyes towards the movie. “Looks like my parents – well my father – was a nightmare.” She felt her phone buzz and pulled it out of her pocket: _Aino_. “Speaking of…”

**Aino: Would you b ok w/paying the Ferraris insurance a little longer.**

“ **Haruka Kanata” – AKG: That was the plan.**

“ **Haruka Kanata” – AKG: Stop feeling guilty bout it.**

**Aino: Im not! I just realized I cant pay it next month & mum said to check if it was okay.**

Haruka rolled her eyes. She’s spent enough time with Minako to read around the excuses she made for her parents by now.

“ **Haruka Kanata” – AKG: Chill. Car’s still in my name anyways.**

“ **Haruka Kanata” – AKG: Wat changed that u cant?**

**Aino: Its complicated.**

“ **Haruka Kanata” – AKG: U want to uncomplicated it?**

“ **Haruka Kanata” – AKG: we need to practice ur turns anyways.**

“ **Haruka Kanata” – AKG: U got lazy.**

**Aino: IDIDNOT :P :P :P but…fine. Yeah.**

“ **Haruka Kanata” – AKG: 8 tomorrow. Am.**

**Aino: Thanks Haruka-Sensei** ****

“Minako would you put your phone away when I’m talking to you?” Her mother nagged. “What do you _mean_ you lost the part!” she said. “It was the perfect part – you signed a contract, they have to keep you.”

Minako sighed, crossing her arms over her pajamas and staring briefly at her shoes before meeting her mother’s gaze. “Fine, I didn’t lose it – I quit.”

“ _MINAKO_.”

“It was a main part, Mom,” she argued, resisting a smile as Artemis leapt onto her shoulder. “I needed time for other things.”

“Like inviting aliens to tea by practicing strange magic?”

“ _Mom_!”

“Well it seems like every time you have a good acting thing going there’s a new alien – like that tour we had to cancel with the _Starlights_ – tell me you actually like fighting these things you challenge Mina. Tell me”

“It’s not like that…and we don’t issue challenges,” Mina groaned. “I have a duty.”

“And where’s it going to get you, huh?” Hikari accused. “By the time you’re finished fighting these…whatever these aliens are, you’ll be doing your first shows while everyone else your age has a movie deal. And what will you be able to get then? I’ll tell you.”

“Mom, please,”

“ _Commercials_ , Mina,” she said dramatically, leaning over the counter with her hands braced on it. “Are you really going to let that happen to your dream because you were having a frivolous time with this sailor business?”

Artemis hissed on her shoulder, and Mina hung her head, hand coming up to scratch her guardian’s ears. “Whatever, Mom,” she whispered. “I know you don’t get it – if I could do the acting thing for you, and protect the planet, I would. Okay? But I can’t do both.”

She left the kitchen and walked down the hall to her room with her eyes still on her shoes and her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Not even Artemis whispering “I’m proud of you,” in her ear could break through how _tired_ she suddenly felt. She wrenched open her bedroom door and kicked it shut, sinking down onto the floor as Artemis leapt off her shoulder. She could feel is too-observant green eyes on her as she leaned her head back against the door and swore.

 _I wish Rei were here,_ she thought, taking out her phone.

**Minako <3: I miss you.**

“ **Route Venus”: You just saw me.**

**Minako <3: And now I miss you.**

“ **Route Venus”: So come over**

**Minako <3: I want toooo…**

**Minako <3: But I cant. Sooo tired.**

“ **Route Venus”: It’s your mother again, isn’t it?**

**Minako <3: …yes :/**

“ **Route Venus”: You should talk about it – give me twenty minutes, I’m calling you.**

**Minako <3: I love you.**

Rei smiled down at the latest text and tucked her phone back into her pocket as she resumed helping Makoto clean up the last of the mess from the parents meeting she knew had gathered tonight and looked to her Grandfather who was setting out the tea for the three of them.

“How were the Ainos?” she asked him as she cleaned off the table. Makoto stopped sweeping to listen.

Her Grandpa sighed as he set down the teapot he’d been pouring from and settled down on one of the cushions. “They are very confused,” he said, gesturing for the two of them to gather. “They appear to equate the fact that you fight evil with the fact that evil exists, not considering the alternative that it would appear with or without you and that, by some interpretations, _you_ exist to fight it.”

“Hikari’s being a bitch to Mina again isn’t she?” Makoto asked and then flushed and turned to her left to look at Rei’s Grandfather. “Er, sorry.”

Her grandfather smiled and waved a hand at Makoto. “We mustn’t distort the truth just because the words of it are vulgar.” He said. “And i find that a perfectly apt way to describe Mrs. Aino’s behaviour.”

“What happened at the meeting?” Rei asked.

“Nothing unusual. The Ainos and Mr. Tomoe are, I think, quite unsettled by it all, but I thought it was quite nice to gather everyone together again, and under less stressful circumstances than there were two years ago.” He sipped his tea. “And of course Ikuko and Saeko are as lovely company as they were before.”

“ _Grandpa_.”

“I only mean they are nice to talk to,” he chortled. “I did entertain whether Saeko would become more than good company, but it seems she’s had her attention captured by another.”

“Ami’s mom has a boyfriend!” Makoto exclaimed. “Ami didn’t say.”

“Oh,” Rei’s Grandfather chuckled. “Well I doubt your friend would know yet – Saeko herself hasn’t quite figured it out. But,” he nodded as he took a long sip of his tea. “Ikuko and I can tell – romance is in the air.”

“Grandpa please don’t go matchmaking again,” Rei pleaded. “It’s embarrassing.”

“And who’s Ami’s mom crushing on?” Makoto asked.

“Now, now,” Rei’s grandfather waved his finger. “A matchmaker never reveals their secrets.”

Across town, the woman they spoke of sat with her daughter at her desk, watching as Ami tinkered with the strange hard drive she’d apparently found on Mercury. Saeko herself held the equally strange blue helmet in her hands. She’d seen her daughter as Sailor Mercury once before, but even that hadn’t been so strange as holding this _alien_ technology in her hands.

 _But my daughter isn’t an alien_ , Saeko thought, beating back the voice that sounded annoyingly like Hikari Aino. _Just a genius_.

“I think if I could design a cable to connect here,” Ami was saying. “I could patch it into the palm top…maybe even the PC as long as the data processing capacity could handle it.”

She’d leave the computer diagnostics the Ami. Instead, she focused on the helmet. “And this gave you complete control of a whole planet’s magic?”

“Presumably – I think I’ll know more once I have whatever’s survived on here analysed.” Ami said. “Hopefully the palmtop can translate Mercurian…or Lunarian. Luna once said they used both as the standards in the Silver Millennium’s academic circles.”

Saeko nodded, ignoring once again her questions about _how_ a millennium long empire had existed without any of their history books mentioning it.

“And will you get your memories back of being… Athena?”

Ami sighed. “I had hoped to today, but it seems like there’s still quite a bit in the way of that…happening.” She bit her lip. “I do worry a little – the first time Sailor Moon unlocked Serenity it was because Mamoru nearly died. I really hope it doesn’t take something that drastic to bring Athena forth again.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Saeko was saying as the alarm beeped on her phone. She and Ami both sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I have the morning shift tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry,” Ami smiled, turning away from her work on the hard drive to hug her mother. “I should turn in to – I have class early.”

“Okay,” her mother stepped back and regarded her for a moment, her head tilted thoughtfully to the side, and then said. “I was listening to Hikari tonight…about how Mina doesn’t seem to have time for anything but fighting.”

“Mom,” Ami began to say.

“And I was thinking: if this is too much,” she gestured around at the stacks of textbooks, shelves of coffee, and Ami’s whiteboard packed to the brim with notes, “And you need to fight… don’t worry about school. You can take a leave of absence, stay at home.” She smiled at Ami. “I know you don’t need my approval, but you have it.”

Ami beamed at her. “Thanks mom.”

They said goodnight with one more hug and as soon as Ami’d waved her mother out the door, she turned back to her desk, adjusted the lamp so it shone more directly on the hard drive, and pulled out her palm top.

 _I’ll just work on it for one more hour_ , she thought as she yawned. _And then I’ll turn in._

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Friday morning, Kenji Tsukino yawned and then took a hearty swig of the coffee Ikuko had pressed into his hands as he’d rushed out the door. She kept joking that he was turning into Usagi in his old age. He was beginning to believe her.

 _Still,_ he thought as he walked through the office door and gave a tired greeting to the receptionist. _I am a senior editor now, I work from home some days. They’ll understand if I’m…_ he checked his watch and winced. _Forty minutes late…you know what it’s a Friday_ , he decided. _And I’ll just stay two extra hours tonight._

As he walked by the reporters room on his way to his office though, he thought they may have noticed. Every eye in the office seemed to be on him as he walked across it, face turning redder as he walked.

 _I shouldn’t have been so hard on Usagi about this_ , he thought. _Goodness if I’d only known she was a sailor then… hearing about the Moon took half the night, forget our questions._ He yawned again as he fumbled with his keys and, after three tries, got his office door unlocked. _I should have called in sick_.

He had no sooner sat down than he heard a group of people gather at his office door. He looked up and sighed. A sizable group of the office’s journalists was crowding in around his desk. “Um, good morning,” he said. “I’m very sorry about my lateness – I know this is an incredibly bad example I’m setting for you all – there were problems at home…”

“He doesn’t know,” he heard one of them mutter and looked up. Yamoto.

“Know what…” Oh goodness, had he been fired already? No, preposterous. He and the paper’s executives were on good terms.

“We didn’t know it was your family, Mr. Tsukino,” another journalist said. She was wringing her hands in front of her. “We…well it was breaking news. The night editor wanted it rushed out.”

He frowned, straightening up in his chair. “What…?”

Yamoto looked at all the others and then took a copy of the morning’s paper out from behind his back. He walked up to the desk and Kenji leaned out to grab it.

He didn’t have to read the article to understand. He didn’t even have to look at the seven profiles available on page A3. All he needed was the bold title comprising the paper’s front page headline.

_**SAILOR SCOUTS REVEALED** _

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Ikuko had _just_ hustled Shingo and Chibiusa out the door to school when her cellphone started blaring out Kenji’s ringtone. “And what did you forget today,” she muttered bemused as she accepted the call. “Hello, my love.”

“Did you see it yet!”

“See what?”

“The paper…nevermind: Is Usagi awake?”

“Usagi is at work,” Ikuko said as she picked the paper up off the front stoop. “I don’t know if it’s because it’s Makoto or because there’s pastries waiting for her but,”

“Shit,” Kenji cursed. “Listen: they’re the front page story. Okay. Their identities. _I swear I didn’t know they were doing this…_ I have to go. The night editor’s on the other line. Can you call her?”

And then he hung up and she lowered the phone, staring at the full-page story on the morning paper. And the opening line.

_Tokyo’s pretty heroines finally uncovered! An anonymous source directed us to Juuban High School last night, and their student records. We can confirm at least seven of our Sailor Senshi to be alumnae of the school – including famous violinist Kaioh Michiru, the racer Tenoh Haruka, and girl genius Mizuno Ami. We’ve also been told Hino Rei, an alumna of Juuban’s Catholic High School and Priestess at Hikawa Shrine is a member of the Sailor Senshi. This was confirmed by records of the girls absences compared with some of the Sailor Scouts most notable daytime appearances, and what further proves this is all the girls unsolved disappearances two years ago. Their parents had the case dismissed after the girls return four months later when it was claimed they had only been sick (despite rumours that those same parents appeared to be in mourning during the four month time span). Well those disappearances can finally be resolved – we can confirm that the captures and disappearances of the Sailor Senshi were reported at the same times as the girls disappearences._

_From this, we’ve managed to confirm the identities of seven of the famous sailor senshi (for full profiles turn to page A3). We’re currently looking into the records from other Juuban area schools hoping to uncover the identities of Sailors Pluto, Saturn, and Chibi Moon…_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The bakery set up had gone amazingly smoothly that morning thanks to Usagi, Nephrite, _and_ Mina coming in to help. Mina’d even asked Makoto if she could make this a full time job and Makoto’d clapped her on the shoulder. She’d said “I would be happy to have you,” and then conspiratorially whispered. “You have no idea how much I need you here – Usagi and Nephrite suck at making coffee.”

They’d been prepared for a normal morning rush – and had one for about a half hour, before a swarm of people crowded around the front doors, shoving and pushing eachother to get through the doors.

“Oh boy,” Mina groaned, lining up boxes and paper bags on the counter as Usagi tied her apron on a little tighter. “Looks like a case of the Munchies.”

“Gonna need more stuff, guys!” Usagi called to Makoto and Nephrite in the kitchen.

Makoto came out as the first of the crowd made it through the doors and stared at the sight of so many people.

“Hi,” Minako said cheerily to the first person to reach the counter. “Welcome to,”

“ _You’re the Sailor Scouts!”_ he shouted. And all of them froze.

“What’s going on?” Nephrite said, dusting his hands as he came up and stood beside Makoto. Her sharp green eyes were staring out the front windows at the ever growing crowd and at the news vans that had just screeched to a halt on road.

“We’ve got trouble,” she whispered.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Setsuna got the frantic, psychic warning from Michiru and Rei at the same time as her communicator exploded with warnings from Haruka, Usagi, and Ami.

“ _They know who we are!”_ Usagi exclaimed.

“ _They’re going to find out our addresses,”_ Ami worried.

“ _Hide Hotaru,”_ Michiru and Haruka had declared nearly in tandem.

Souichi would shout at her later for him having to find out from the teachers, _after_ the first class _,_ and then for her phone being _unavailable_ while she was Sailor Pluto and acting largely in the recent past and doing far more time travel than she ought to have done.

But she was the only one available to do it. Michiru had said she’d been pressed into an interview with the evening news and physically couldn’t leave the Orchestra building. _Unless I deep submerge them_ she’d thought to Pluto.

Haruka’d bit the bullet there. Pluto got the team-wide communication from her just a half hour into her efforts to mask as much of their private information, and in Chibiusa and Hotaru’s cases their identities, as she could.

“ _How bad is it if I hacked a camera in two with the Space Sword_?” she asked.

“ _Not quite as bad as threatening them with fire…”_ Rei’s response came in a bit later. _“I didn’t transform – I swear. The Great fire just flared up. Of course now there’s more of them.”_

Minako’d joined in about then. “ _We need to give them interviews_.”

“ _I don’t want to talk to them!_ ” Rei’d exploded.

Pluto sighed. “It will be the only way they leave the property.”

Rei fumed when she got Pluto’s response but threw open the door of the shrine anyways. “Fine!” she shouted at the absolute sea of cameras and microphones on the grounds. “One of you talk.”

“What does your father think of you being a Sailor Scout?” she hears above the rest of the questions.

She groaned. She already had five calls from him on her cellphone. “Next question,” she dismissed.

As she should have learned from Minako and Michiru and Haruka by now though, that wasn’t how reporters worked. She got that question regularly and persistently over the course of the next _four_ hours. They even asked her grandfather when he emerged to help her out.”

She was exhausted by the time they left to hustle out their pictures and videos and stories on the evening news. She made the mistake of checking her phone and groaned.

They were trending on Twitter.

 _This is a nightmare_.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The hashtag _#Iknowthesenshi_ had made its way to her old circles in the UK by the time Minako finally got the Ferrari into her driveway – blessedly clear of reporters.

 _Won’t be for long though_ , she thought as she slumped her shoulders and braced herself for her mother’s arguments. _They’ll find out the address…oh she’s going to accuse me of doing this too! Of making the senshi thing a spectacle just to spite her_.

She needed to go in the house though. She needed her laptop so she could disable her twitter account. She’d thrown her phone on the ground and broken it well enough that reading anything but the _constant_ notifications of her username in other people’s tweets was impossible.

And if one more person mentioned how goddamn ironic it was that she’d gotten by with _@actualsailorv_ as her handle for so long she might just run the phone over with the car.

“Before you say anything,” she began to say as she walked through the door of her house, but she was cut off, not by her mother’s yelling but by a hug that startled her so much her phone and her keys slipped through her fingers.

“You’re okay!” Hikari whispered as she pulled away and swept the hair out of Mina’s face. “Goodness from the look of the television they’ve been hounding you all day.”

“You…don’t think I did this.”

“ _Goodness no_ ,” Hikari assured her. “You’re secretive enough to me about it. Oh – this ruins _any chance_ of you ever getting back to your normal career – I’m so sorry, honey.”

“Uh…it’s okay.”

“I can help – managing the press is the same whether you’re an idol or a sailor, after all. I’ve got some ideas – I’ve already scheduled an interview schedule for you _don’t be mad_. They called the house. I wanted to ask but you weren’t here and I figured we would _both_ want them not hound the house.”

“Mom…”

“I also figured,” Hikari continued as she showed Mina the copious notes and the daily planners and the tablet _and_ laptop tracking scout-related media. “that you needed someone to keep on top of your image so I have already started with that.”

“Mom… you _hate_ the sailor thing… why are you doing this.”

Her mother’s eyes grew soft and she turned and hugged her again. “Because I love _you_ Mina. And maybe I don’t understand why you do this fighting nonsense but I do understand the press. They are rabid.” She stood back and put both hands on Mina’s shoulders. “I want to help you, Mina – let me do that.”

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat but couldn’t. Instead she dove in for another hug, not able to recall the last time her mother’d had offered one. “I love you, mom.” She choked.   
“I love you too,” Hikari said, stroking her hair. “Don’t you worry – I know this isn’t what either of us wanted but we’re certainly going to make the best of it.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Setsuna sighed as she through the car into park and triple checked that brakes were off, lights off, keys in her pocket and not locked inside the vehicle. She so preferred when Haruka or Michiru could drive, but it hadn’t been possible today, nor would it likely be possible for a while now, not when both of them were even more Paparazzi fodder than they’d been before. She didn’t need to see from the Time Dimension to know that she’d be doing all the errands for the foreseeable future.

At least their addresses were still a secret. Though she’d broken quite a few time and mortal laws to make it so. The deed to the Penthouse was now solely in her name, and the Juuban Registry had “caught” on fire this morning – destroying all the records of its residents addresses and the digital server. The information still existed (the internet was annoyingly difficult to combat). But, for the moment, all of them but Rei and Makoto could still enjoy at least the privacy of their own homes.

All of that hadn’t changed the fact though that with Michiru and Haruka found out, Hotaru’s custody would be under scrutiny. Souichi had successfully threatened / bribed all of Juuban Elementary’s school officials out of talking and she herself had insured all of Chibiusa and Hotaru’s records were destroyed. There would be nothing for the press to find. But even she could agree with Souichi’s point that being seen with Haruka or Michiru would give people reason to question Hotaru, and so it was, with a heavy heart that she had dropped a sullen Hotaru off at her fathers for the first weekend of many, and had had to walk away from her daughter with no promises of when they would be able to spend the day together again.

 _Souichi got exactly what he wanted_ , she thought as she exited the car (checked the keys were in her pocket _again_ ) and walked to the darkest corner of the parking garage. _No, I’m being ridiculous. Surely_ he _didn’t leak their identities. Otherwise he would have leaked mine too_.

She checked that no one was around before transforming into Sailor Pluto and summoning the Time Doors with tap of the Garnet Rod against the floor.

 _I may not be able to see the enemy_ , she thought. _But I can still be useful to them in this._

“Mizuno Ami,” she commanded the fog. It, and the sand under her feet swirled into the clear image of Ami, as Sailor Mercury, accessing her studio apartment through the fire escape. Pluto smiled. Ami would have the fewest problems of any of them keeping her address a secret. She watched as the genius hacked into her university’s records and deleted everything related to her classes, or addresses.

Ami would okay.

“Aino Minako,” revealed a turbulent future of a contented Minako happier than Pluto had ever seen her in reference to her mother, and contrasted to it: red-faced and tense leader of the Inner Senshi shouting down the woman who could have been her darker-haired doppleganger. Pluto wished she could hear what they were saying.

She watched the highs and lows of that relationship in the coming weeks through a succession of fights that grew less and less angry as Minako grew more and more tired, eventually leading to a clearly exhausted Minako slumped over her desk which her mother leaned over her with her hands on Mina’s shoulders. Hikari looked calm and confident. She couldn’t see Mina’s face. She spotted Artemis and Luna atop Mina’s book case in this future, Artemis giving Hikari a dirty glare – the first she’d ever seen on his face.

 _It won’t do any good to warn Minako about her fights with Hikari_ , Pluto realized as she pursued that avenue. _But perhaps I can warn Artemis to pay close attention to them_.

“Tsukino Usagi,” and “Serenity Usagi” both revealed that the Tsukino home would not be anonymous for long. In fact it appeared every news outlet and upstart tabloid photographer in Tokyo would be swarming around their home. Chibiusa was surrounded by more fog than normal and she tried not to think of the empty chasm of unknown events obstructing their path to her existence which made that so. Instead, she focused on Juuban Middle School. Chibiusa would not be discovered, and from the looks of things she and Shingo were more than prepared to fend off any of their classmates taunts and questions for themselves. Usagi was another matter. It seemed she’d opt out of disguising the crescent Moon with make up, but would definitely face the brunt of the cameras.

_But there isn’t anything I can do for her, besides it appears Ikuko has a mean enough right hook to chase most of those reporters away from the house…_

“Hino Rei,” was in a similar pickle. There’d be nothing she could do that would stop the swell of reporters and fans from flocking to Hikawa, and it appeared warning Rei about her father’s interference wouldn’t matter, clearly Rei was anticipating the politician’s renewed involvement in her life.

“Kino Makoto.” At least she seemed to find some benefit in her new-found fame. Pluto chuckled, if she was going to make them a business gimmick, she’d have to advise Mako to double the baking supplies in her next order.

“Hotaru.” She cleared her throat when her voice cracked. Hotaru living with her father was what was best for her – even the future proved it. She hated the heavy feeling in her chest as she watched the many futures where Hotaru was safe and anonymous, broody and isolated. At least she would still be able to see Chibiusa on weekends. And, Pluto sighed, Hotaru wouldn’t be able to see the three of them together for quite a while. She thought of using the time doors to transport Hotaru between the Penthouse and her father’s, but decided against it…she’d already stepped on too many of Souichi’s toes.

 _She deserves a normal childhood out of the lime-light,_ she reminded herself again. _She will be sad now, but she loves Souichi and he appears to be more understanding if she’s under his roof all the time._

“Ruka,” she whispered. And frowned, zeroing in on the swirls of fog that slightly blurred Haruka’s future. They were strange here, though not entirely out of the ordinary. Hotaru’s future always looked much the same, especially these days when her mood could turn on a dime. Perhaps it was so with Haruka too, or maybe the enemy meddling in her future, masked by whatever power hid it from Pluto’s sight. She’d have to keep a close eye on Haruka then, if the enemy would come calling. She focused on what she could see. Besides dealing with a sudden increase in the number of cameras shoved in her face, Haruka looked fine. She might or might not punch someone on Tuesday.

“Michiru,” she asked the fog at last. But nothing appeared. “Michiru,” she said again. Perhaps she hadn’t spoken loud enough. But that was ridiculous, the Time Dimension could respond even to her thoughts. Speaking to it was a habit she’d only picked up since her time on Earth.

She could feel the headache coming on as she poured all of her concentration into the Garnet Rod and slammed the butt of it into the turbulent sand and fog below her. “Show me Kaioh Michiru,” she demanded.

The storm of sand and fog intensified, warping and flexing until it formed not an image, but a strange silhouette of chaotic time energy.

She stood frozen as, rather than coalesce into an image, a direction, a possibility, _anything_ , the swirls of fog that represented Michiru’s future carried on swirling until they faded into the chaotic mess of time energy around her.

In her haste to open the Time Doors, she nearly dropped the Garnet Rod.

_Michiru!_

~ _Á Suivre~_

 


	7. The New Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Scouts adjust to being overnight celebrities amongst other, much more dire, concerns.

**The New Normal**

“ _Michiru!”_ Sailor Pluto called as she burst out of the Time Doors and raced into her home office with her heart in her throat. She slammed open the door, rushed down the hall to the left, and threw open the door to Michiru’s studio: empty. The music room: empty. She was so panicked by the time she had run all the way back to Michiru and Haruka's door that she forgot to knock, charging into their bedroom: empty.  
The chaotic mess of fog and sand that had made up Michiru’s future would not leave her mind. Had she been captured? Had their new enemy attacked? Was she…

 _She’s not dead._ Pluto thought as her left hand joined her right on the Garnet Rod, gripping it painfully tightly. _Her timeline was fine before we visited our homeworlds…_

Breathing hard, and mind spinning through all the unthinkable reasons she’d ever seen futures disappear, Pluto bowed her head and rested it against the Garnet Orb, trying to hold back her panic as she reached out psychically.

 _Michiru…_ she called out, praying for an answer.

 _I’m fine._ The responding thought, half a beat later, was like a wave of calm rippling through her mind, filling Pluto with such a shock of relief that she gasped.

 _I got held up at the pool,_ Michiru continued. _This horde of Paparazzi is so rude! You know they…_

 _The poo_ l… Pluto concentrated on Michiru’s thoughts, zeroing in on their physical origin in linear time… _Juuban’s elite fitness center, .5 kilometers southeast._ Pluto summoned the Time Doors again, rushing in just long enough to send them to Michiru's location. She grabbed Michiru’s hand, snatched her out of the mass of cameras and microphones, and slammed the doors shut on the whole scene.

Michiru sighed. _Finally_ , some peace and quiet. "You are a lifesa-mfff!"

Saver, she’d began to say, only to be silenced halfway through as Sailor Pluto crushed her close. Michiru certainly wasn’t going to complain, quite content to enjoy Pluto's warm embrace and the perfectly adequate excuse to tuck her head under Pluto's chin… until she heard her heartbeat beneath her ear.  
"Setsuna?"  
It was racing.  
Michiru tried to pull back, but Pluto's arms remained cinched tight around her back, they even pulled her closer. She felt Pluto shake her head and press her face into Michiru's hair. The rise and fall of her chest against Michiru's was too shallow and too fast – especially for the usually stoic guardian of time.  
So Michiru curled her own arms tighter around Pluto and ran her palm slowly up and down her back.

 _Safe_ , Pluto thought. _She’s safe_. She should let go. She was overreacting. This was… far too intimate. Surely Michiru would pull away soon.

But she didn’t. And she was safe. And – though Pluto knew she was letting her emotions compromise her, as they absolutely _never_ could – she continued to hold her. Michiru was not an unknown mess of time energy. Michiru was _not_ a futureless anomaly. Michiru was here. Michiru was safe. Time could not take her away so long as Pluto could hold on to her.  
Michiru held her until Pluto's breathing had evened out, then for a while longer until her heartbeat had eased back to a normal rate. And still she did not let go. It felt ridiculously nice to have Pluto this close, even if the niceness was well overshadowed by her worries. Still. She held her.  
Until Michiru’s stomach growled. Pluto stiffened. Her hold on Michiru released as she stepped away.  
"Sorry!" she said, a blush rapidly filling her face. She waved the Garnet Rod and ushered Michiru out of the Time Dimension into the living room. She de-transformed as she carried on rambling. "Of course. You need to eat. Did you skip lunch? No, wait, or course you did. I could see that. Here," Setsuna decided as she walked ahead of Michiru towards the kitchen "I'll make,"  
" _Wait_ ," Michiru said, grabbing her hand. "What's wrong?"  
"No-" she stopped when Michiru squeezed her hand and gave her the same stern look she gave to Haruka when she denied eating the cookies the three of them baked every weekend for Hotaru. Setsuna sighed and whispered: "Nothing I can tell you..."   
"It's something you saw in the Time Dimension then?"  
Setsuna nodded and looked away. "I'm sorry about doing that."  
"A... bout the hug – _No_ ," Michiru stepped close to Setsuna and put both hands on her shoulders, resisting the urge to shake sense into her. "That was nice."  
"Then I’m sorry about scaring you. I, uh... overreacted"  
"I gathered that around the time you showed the Time Doors to a crowd of cameras," Michiru said.

Setsuna didn't respond. She was staring at the pictures and paintings that decorated the living room walls. Michiru cupped her face in her hand and guided Setsuna's gaze back to hers. "Something’s going to happen to me isn’t it?" she asked.  
"No! I… I don’t know," Setsuna closed her eyes and whispered: "I don’t understand what I saw."  
Michiru stroked her thumb over Setsuna's cheek and wondered if the frazzled Time Guardian even realized how intimate it was that she leaned into the touch. "Then don't worry," Michiru advised. "I'll be here. Haruka will be here. We'll help you figure it out. And then we’ll handle it together like we always do."  
"I know," Setsuna sighed. "I’m sorry: I scared you, and I can't even tell you what has me so... so…"  
"Anxious," Michiru supplied. She squeezed Setsuna’s shoulder. "Don't be – I’m fine."  
“You’re not!” Setsuna confessed as Michiru let the hand on Setsuna’s cheek slide back to her shoulder. “I saw…” and she immediately clammed up. Her eyes looked up towards the ceiling as she shook her head. Her shoulders were tense under Michiru’s hands. “I shouldn’t even tell you _that_.”

“Then don’t,” Michiru rushed to assure her. “It is okay,” this time she really did shake her, but only once.

Setsuna appeared more composed now, thank goodness. She tilted her head and frowned at Michiru. Who had just learned her future somehow scared an eternal guardian of time, who had just learned there was nothing Setsuna could tell her that might give her power over that future, and yet Michiru was still looking at _her_ with concern. “How can you be so calm?”

Michiru smiled and shook her head. “Because I _trust_ you,” she answered, “with the future – no matter how, frustratingly little you can tell me about it.”

“And what if that future holds terrible things?” Setsuna asked. “Why aren’t you angry that I won’t warn you?”

“I swear you think you’re the only one who sees disasters before they happen.” Michiru chuckled, squeezing her shoulders. “Suna: Haruka and I _know_ you’re concerned with more than just our futures. We know you see events that have to happen and if you can't tell us, then that's hardly your fault.” Michiru brushed a stray green hair out of Setsuna's stunned face. "We trust you with the things you cannot say."

Setsuna's eyes we tearing up as she stared at Michiru, and they grew darker than normal as she held Michiru’s gaze. Setsuna’s hands came to rest on her upper arms. They’d drawn much closer together, Michiru noted. She stood up on her tiptoes. She and Haruka had wanted to initiate this with Setsuna together, but if Setsuna did it first...

The Time Guardian leaned closer. Her breath tickled Michiru's nose.

And, just as Michiru closed her eyes, Setsuna changed course, her lips giving Michiru an innocent peck on the cheek.  
"Thank you," Setsuna said, blushing again. She stepped hastily away, glancing towards the kitchen. "Um – you should still eat" she said as she backed away. "Go sit in the dining room… or on the couch. I'll make lunch. Er, dinner."  
Michiru stared after her though. _How_ were she and Haruka ever going to clue Setsuna in to the fact that kissing would be alright – _more than alright._ Clearly _she_ wasn’t averse to the idea.  
She kept staring for quite awhile as the sounds of clanging pots and pans echoed out of the kitchen and what was sure to be quite a memorable one of Setsuna’s cooking frenzies. She stared until Haruka clicked open the front door, groaning.  
"I hate reporters," Haruka muttered as she set down her keys and hung her riding jacket. She walked into the living room. "Exactly how many times do I have to answer the question: 'does the bike turn into a robot'? Of course it fucking doesn't" she slid one arm around Michiru’s waist and leaned in to place a quick kiss on her lips. "What'd I miss?"  
Michiru sighed, leaning into Haruka as she stared towards the kitchen. "We pick the absolute worst times to fall in love."

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_Monday, 24 th March._

_(Cont… from pg. A1)._

_Perhaps the most sought after interview is that of Tsukino Usagi, or as she’s known to many foes and fans alike: Sailor Moon. She has been long assumed the leader of the senshi and once thought to have been Sailor V (Twitter user @nyancat_79 has now confirmed V is, in fact Minako Aino, or Sailor Venus). Yet, for many, Miss Tsukino’s reveal as Sailor Moon baffles all who know her. Statements from her old classmates using the #Iknowthesenshi have exclaimed about Miss. Tsukino’s fame as a clutz and her record for the most tardy notices in Juuban Municipal Junior High’s history. Many have even suggested that Sailor Moon must have someone giving her directions in battle – or else be a completely different person – as Miss. Tsukino was also notorious for consistent failing grades, barely passing the High School Entrance Exam. One classmate confirms she did not sit the University exams at all._

_A few acquaintances of hers though, offered a different view. “Sure she was absolutely awful at school,” one source who claims to have been best friends with Usagi in school (and who asked to remain anonymous) said. “But she was so kind – and she’s got these really strong morals about her, you know. And she was always the first to stand up when something wasn’t right – so I can totally see her being a guardian of Love and Justice. She doesn’t need high marks for that.”_

_Miss. Tsukino has, until now, declined comments. And attempts to interview her or her two younger siblings have been consistently blocked by her parents._

_Many want to know how_ she _of all girls, wound up as a Sailor Senshi. Several analysts agree that these powers were likely obtained by them in some event or another – with a few speculating that the girls might have stolen their powers from youma. All of them raise one consistent anomaly about Miss. Tsukino – she is the only sailor with any visible mark denoting her status while she is not in uniform – a crescent moon in the center of her forehead._

_Analysts wonder whether the others hide similar marks and whether Miss Tsukino hid her own up until their discovery. We certainly have no other information as to its origin – all the scouts who’ve agreed to give interviews so far, have declined to comment._

“I like it,” Mamoru said of the crescent mark, his accompanying thumbs up lagging just a second or two behind his voice. Usagi glanced at her own smaller image in the corner of the screen and then back at Mamoru. “It matches your hair.”

“I know, and _I_ like it,” Usagi sighed. “But it makes me stick out like a sore thumb.” She rubbed her palm over the crescent mark. She always expected to notice the difference but it felt no different from her normal skin.

“I think your hair-do already did that,” Mamoru teased before bringing a handkerchief up to his mouth and letting out a hacking cough.

Usagi leaned into the laptop screen, frowning. “Mamo-chan,”

“I’m fine,” he assured her, reaching off screen for a glass of water. “Just a cough.” But Usagi continued to frown at him. “I’m fine,” he assured her.

“But…” Usagi said. “You don’t get sick… unless there’s some enemy attacking the Earth, I mean.”

He laughed. “Kunzite tells me the exact same thing five times a day,” he shook his head. “I’m not… discounting it,” he said seriously. “I’ve only had it since you all went on your field trips a week ago as well – I’ve been thinking about those two shadows you found on The Moon.”

“You think there could be some on Earth too?”

Mamoru nodded. “I’ve been keeping in touch with Helios. He hasn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, but he’s still looking. Kunzite has Zoicite and Jadeite helping him look as well. They’re eager to do it – Jadeite’s actually said he preferred facing down Metalia to sitting through my classes.” He laughed, though it transformed into another cough. “I also can’t discount that this could be stress – exam season here is worse than ours if you can believe it.”

“But it’s only March!” Usagi pouted. “Harvard had better not be making you sick or I’ll… I’ll.”

“Punish them in the name of Love and Justice,” Mamoru teased.

“Yes,” she stuck her tongue out at him, and they both laughed. “How are they otherwise?” Usagi asked.

“Good – they haven’t got as much culture shock from moving as I thought, but Zoicite did get banned from the Mall.”

“ _How_?”

“He thought the mannequins were youma,” Mamoru shook his head. “It was funny afterwards, but I wish they could have more of an… adjustment period, you know. They’ve gotten so much better since the cauldron reawakened them. I mean it has been years. But it does mean whenever they _do_ have a setback…

“They take it hard.” Usagi concluded.

“Exactly,” Mamoru sighed. “I feel guilty – I was caught up with work the past two years, and now school – and I feel like I should be spending more time helping them.”

“But you have helped them,” Usagi said. “The first year I almost didn’t see you, you spent so much time helping them put their lives together.” She reached out towards him, pressing her fingers to his face on the screen. “I’m sure they don’t begrudge you – especially from the way Nephrite talks. Makoto says he speaks quite highly of you.”

Mamoru smiled. “How is my errant knight?”

“He’s good,” Usagi giggled. “He’s hopelessly in love with Mako-chan. It’s so cute. And she’s so not used to it.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, like yesterday: we were in the shop and he asked if she could teach him Judo. And this customer that had come in – ugh, he’s kind of an ass, but he’s actually Mina-chan’s favorite cause he’s more interested in the pastries than the Sailor thing – anyways Nephrite asked if Mako-chan could teach him Judo and the guy laughed and told Nephrite it wouldn’t end well having a girl teach him, especially his girlfriend.” When Mamoru frowned she added. “Yeah, I told you he was rude.

“But Nephrite just looked at him and said. ‘Why would it be weird? Makoto is the best fighter there is, and a great teacher.’ And she was listening from the kitchen, and he just started going on and on about how she taught him to bake. She had the _best_ look on her face. Like she’s had so many guys feel uncomfortable that she’s a better fighter than they are – and of course none of them have ever taken an interest in cooking.” Usagi laughed. “And when the customer left and Nephrite asked _her_ why that was a weird request, Mako-chan couldn’t think of anything to say – she just straight up kissed him.”

Mamoru joined her laughter and then Usagi sighed. “They’re good together. And it seems like they’re the only ones who aren’t having any problems since the we became public interest number one.”

“Really?” Mamoru asked.

“Yep. Mako-chan’s turned that into a great opportunity – she’s been coming up with all sorts of Sailor themed treats this week. They’re selling really well. _And_ she makes the reporters buy them before she’ll answer any of their questions.” Usagi smiled. “So at least there’s that.”

“And we don’t know who leaked the information yet?”

“No, Dad looked into it at the paper. But it was an anonymous tip.” She sighed. “We’re still looking.”

“And they haven’t discovered Chibiusa yet?”

“Surprisingly no, Setsuna said she handled it – I can’t even imagine _how_. I think Chibiusa actually wishes _she’d_ been outed too.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm” Usagi nodded, “She keeps complaining about how it feels like she has to hide more now. And I completely understand. It must be so strange – more so for Hotaru. She can’t even live with Setsuna and them anymore. And she’s only just got the chance to see Chibiusa today…”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Awww gross!” Shingo wrinkled his nose and Chibiusa paused her scrolling down the list of tweets, hovering the cursor over the tweet Shingo had read.

“What do you mean?” she asked as she looked between Shingo and Hotaru. “All it says is _“’@serenity-chan #SailorMoon_ is a _#silf_ ’. What’s a ‘silf?’ Why is Mama one”

“You don’t wanna know,” Shingo said, looking green.

“Oh gross!” Hotaru whispered as she put together what the acronym meant.

“What does it _mean_?” Chibiusa whined.

“Nothing,” Shingo and Hotaru said together.

Chibiusa pouted at them. “Fine I’ll see what else got tagged with it.”

“ _NO!”_ the two of them exclaimed, but she had already clicked on the hash-tag. The new twitter page started loading and then the background faded, a pop up appeared in front of it.

“The results on this page have been flagged as inappropriate,” Chibiusa read. “If this has been done in error, please adjust your parental controls.” Her face got red. “ _Ikuko-mama!_ ”

“ _If you can’t see it, you don’t want to see it.”_ Ikuko called back from the next room. “Shingo could tell you.”

Shingo nodded, pushing Chibiusa’s hand away from the laptop so he could click the back button. “She’s right – I didn’t wanna see,” he said. “Trust the parental controls on this.”

“ _What is a silf?”_ Chibiusa demanded.

Hotaru put her face in her palm. “You don’t wanna know,” she stressed.

“As the future crown princess, I order you to tell me,” Chibiusa said.

Hotaru made a face and looked at Shingo. “Fine.” She leaned over and whispered in Chibiusa’s ear.

The youngest Tsukino’s blush intensified and her eyes widened. “I didn’t wanna know,” she whispered. “Why would anyone write that?”

“Cause they’re gross,” Shingo said, scrolling through the rest of the tweets. “Hey – Mina responded to this one!”

“ _@actualsailorv,”_ Hotaru read. “4 yrs ago ur reckless fighting landed me in hospital w heart attack and broken legs. Was 26 at time. Still can’t run like I used to.” She looked at Mina’s response. “And Mina wrote: ‘ _@olymian_KW08_ its inexcusable that r actions hurt people, we’ll try to do better.’”

“Olympian…wait I know who that is!” Chibiusa exclaimed. “That was one of the first fights I helped in.” She frowned. “The death busters targeted him cause he was a champion runner… _we_ didn’t hurt him, they did!”

“And he probably doesn’t remember,” Hotaru realized. “Bet that’s how he got the heart attack too.”

“Yeah he’s lucky he lived – Sailor Venus took a daimon attack for him while he was unconscious,” Chibiusa stared at Mina’s response. “Why did she make it sound like her fault?”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_Thursday, 27 th March_

_The Sailor Scouts have been facing a slew of controversy lately thanks to the off-the-cuff remarks of the most responsive of the crime-fighting team: Aino Minako, or Sailor Venus. She confirmed in an interview yesterday she was the leader of the Inner Senshi – which we know to include Jupiter as well as the Senshi whose planetary namesakes exist within the asteroid belt. When asked about this factual discrepancy, Miss. Aino responded with. “Don’t know, don’t care,” a response that has since caused much uproar in scientific circles. One professor at Kyoto University was quoted as saying they didn’t want “pop culture vigilantes giving students inaccurate views of science.” Miss. Aino later went on record via her official twitter handle: @actualsailorv. She apologized for her previous statement saying. “ [we] recognize how confusing this could be to young people. We’ll look into transferring Sailor Jupiter to the outer senshi for accuracy.”_

Artemis heard the Ferrari screech into the driveway from Mina’s room and was on his way out to the hall to investigate when the front door slammed open. “What the hell is this?” Minako shouted. Artemis raced down the stairs and then the hall as he followed Minako. She’d stormed right into her mother’s study. He saw her slam a newspaper down onto Hikari’s desk.

The woman herself barely glanced at Minako. “Damage control.”

“The hell it is!” Minako fumed. “Why does it say I tweeted this! I haven’t been on Twitter in a week – Imagine my surprise when I do go on and find out _I’ve_ been tweeting bullshit.”

“It is not anything of the sort,” Hikari said.

“ _I DIDN’T WRITE IT!”_

Artemis watched Hikari sigh and stand up from the desk. “Alright – I used your social network account. That is a valuable asset Mina. None of your friends seem interested in setting the record straight, or communicating in any way. And there were people who needed answers.”

“Yeah – I noticed – like all the people _I_ keep replying to saying how sorry I am that they’re hurt like it’s my fault.”

“Isn’t it?” Hikari said. “This fighting, these enemies, they’re all the cause of their injuries.”

“ _We call them ambulances_ ,” Mina fumed.

“After your fights,” Hikari said. “Lots of them would probably be better off if you’d thought to do it sooner.”

“We were _fighting evil_ ” Mina fumed.

“Honey, I’m not blaming you,” Hikari said, rolling her eyes. “You’re all young, school age, and challenging terribly dangerous creatures. Of course you weren’t going to think of the bystanders first.”

“ _Stop_ calling them challenges, we don’t ‘challenge’ them,” Mina reiterated. “Youma, daimons, and the aliens – yes some of them are actual aliens. They come here. And we’re the only ones with the power to fight them.”

“You think that – did you ever consider asking for help?”

“Humans can’t –”

“ _See_!” Her mother smacked the newspaper Mina’d thrown on her desk. “That is the language that’s been getting you in trouble all week. Us being “human” and you being “sailor.” People read that and they think you mean it differently than you do, Minako.”

“People like you,” Mina accused.

“Sometimes yes!” Hikari said. Artemis hackles raised as Mina stepped back from Hikari’s desk, looking stunned as she shook her head slightly. The office was dead silent for a minute as Hikari frowned at Mina, before shaking her head and sighing. “I try not to think that way, Mina, but I do. And everyone who doesn’t know you is going to ask the question more. ‘How human are the sailor scouts?’ Just like they read ‘don’t know, don’t care,’ and _immediately_ see some high and mighty teenage girl using powers they don’t understand to disrupt everyday, normal things.”

“And what do _you_ see it as Mom?” Mina said. “Cause, putting aside the fact that you hacked into my twitter account, everything you post makes it sound like every woe ever caused by our enemies is somehow _our_ fault.”

“There needs to be accountability, Mina.” Hikari said. “Even police have to face up to the consequences of their actions.”

“ _It’s different than that!”_ Mina exclaimed.

“Okay: how?”

“I..I..” she wracked her brain for a good answer but could find none. _Maybe mom does have a point._ She thought, shaking her head. “It’s just different when it is evil you’re fighting and not criminals – okay Mom?”

“Hmm,” Hikari shrugged. “And for the record: I didn’t ‘hack’ your Twitter, dear. You leave it open on your laptop.” She sighed. “I know you don’t like that people criticize you. But they do, and their concerns are valid.” She regarded Mina sternly. “The sailor senshi cause a lot of damage.”

Artemis refused to be silent for any more. He bounded across the floor and hopped up on the desk. Hikari shrieked. “They stop much more harm than they’ve ever caused,” Artemis snarled, a little pleased when Hikari cowered from him. “And they take a lot of hurt so other people don’t have to – even people like you.”

“ _ARTEMIS!_ ” Mina shouted, and picked him up by the scruff of his neck. He stared as she glared at him. “That’s enough.”

“Mina?”

“You’re not supposed to talk – my mother gets scared by it,” she whispered as she walked to the door of the office and set him down gently on the floor. “Stay out of it.”

“But,” but the office door had already slammed in his face.

“You need to listen to people’s concerns,” Hikari was saying on the other side of the door. “And stop saying so many blasé things to the reporters – you know this from your musical career.”

“I was being honest!” Mina shouted back. Artemis heard her sigh. “Stop using my twitter handle.”

“I will – I _am_ sorry about that Mina. Someone had to respond. But I’ve come up with a brand new idea. We’ll make an official senshi account, then I can keep back the negative remarks and you can respond as you please.”

“Fine…but you can’t post anything without my say so.”

“Fine, and _please_ dear. Would you let me approve your answers first before you throw another ‘don’t know, don’t care’ into an _interview_.”

“But I don’t!... _fine_.” Mina sighed. “And we can’t just ‘make’ Jupiter an outer senshi. That’s not how it works…”

Artemis was waiting on her pillow when Mina finally climbed up the stairs to her room. “Sorry I snapped at you,” Mina said, “But you talking actually does freak her out.”

Artemis rolled his eyes. “You know that’s not a problem anyone else has. Rei’s Grandfather has had many a good conversation with me. And Luna does the crossword with Kenji all the time.”

“Artemis _,”_ Mina sighed, flopping down on the bed. “I am _trying_ to compromise with her.”

“Why?” Artemis accused. “She’s being awful to you. And you’re letting her.”

“You’re the only who said she’s just ‘going through a rough thing’” Mina reminded him. “She’s _not_ awful. She’s confused. And she’s still trying to help.”

“She’s a control freak,” Artemis said. “She doesn’t listen to you. She rejects every compromise you try to make with her. And you keep giving her more. What’s next Mina? Are you going to start agreeing with her that your powers _cause_ enemies to appear?”

“ _Ugh!”_ Mina rolled over. “You don’t get it!” she said, voice muffled by her blankets. “She’s my mother.”

“She’s not acting like it.”

“Well I haven’t been acting much like her daughter lately have I?” Mina mumbled back. “ _That_ she’s right about.” She kicked off her shoes and reached out to grab a pillow he wasn’t sitting on, holding it over her head. “I’ve been arguing with people all day, Artemis,” she complained. “At interviews, and public appearances, and _trying_ to order lunch in between a dozen autographs and _stupid_ requests for dates.” She lifted the pillow away from her face so she could look at him. Her eyes were red. “I don’t want to argue with you too.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_Monday 31 st March_

_Juuban Municipal Elementary School – work resumes today on the intensive audit at Juuban Elementary after it was discovered that the a number of student records had vanished from the paper and digital archives. No pattern has been found to link the students whose records were erased, but evidence of tampering in the computer network does suggest it was deliberately done. Officials are speculating that the records were erased to hide the identities of the as-yet unknown Sailors Saturn and Chibi Moon (who appear notably younger than the other Sailor Senshi). The renewed speculation has opened questions for many about how old these Senshi really are – and whether they should be fighting at all. We posed the question to Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru today (who are frequently seen fighting alongside Sailor Saturn). Both declined to comment._

“…Can’t believe you get to see Kaioh in the orchestra next week!” Hotaru heard as she moved her lunch around with her chopsticks. She sat up straighter at the sound of Michiru-mama’s name and listened.

“Yeah! We were lucky to get tickets _before_ the whole Sailor reveal came out.” The boy in the high school class boasted. “Since then they jacked up the prices for their performances by a ton. Cause _everyone_ wants to see her play now.”

“Everyone wanted to see her before,” another student said.

“Yeah but now she’s a senshi, she’s even cooler.” The boy said. “And hotter.”

“Not as hot as Mizuno,” one of his friends says. “Beauty and brains – gotta give her an 8.”

“Why only an 8?”

“Well my older sister went to cram school with her – real snob apparently.”

“That’ll ruin it,” the first guy said. “Whereas I give Kaioh a 10.5”

“You can’t give higher than 10!”

“Can so, _she_ gets a 10. And then she gets .5 bonus points for dating Tenoh – now _that_ is ho –”

“Yo, Tomoe!” someone further down her table called over the other conversation. “What the hell?”

It was one of her old classmates, Hotaru turned to them, still scowling from the conversation she’d overheard. The girl who used to sit next to her in science flinched back. “Geez, don’t glare me to death – you could at least try not looking freaky.” And she pointed towards the table.

Hotaru looked across from her at another student who had stood from their chair and backed away from the table. Their soup had spilled, tipped over by the table-top that had warped and twisted out of place, the impression of a handprint in the center – her handprint.

 _I didn’t do that_. Hotaru thought, scrambling up from her seat.

“A-a-are you a senshi too?” the student across from her stammered.

Her old classmate snorted. “Yeah right – she doesn’t have senshi powers. She’s just always been a freak.”

She ignored them as they laughed, grabbing her lunch and running out of the room.

 _I used telekinesis_ , she thought as she rushed through the halls until she got to the stairs, taking them two at a time. _I haven’t done that since…_

 _Since I was Mistress 9._ She shook her head as she climbed. _That was a Death Buster power._

 _What if I’m still a Death Buster_? She thought. _Or maybe Saturn’s like them…_ She couldn’t help thinking about the storm she’d encountered on Saturn and the voices begging her to drop the glaive.

_“She’s always been a freak.”_

_I’m not a freak,_ she shook her head as she climbed. _Maybe telekinesis is one of Saturn’s powers. And so what if I lost control! I just wanted them to stop talking about Mama!_

Finally, she reached the door to the roof and forced it open. Who cared that her father wanted her to eat with everyone else. She didn’t want to be called a freak, and she definitely didn’t want to hear stupid boys say stupid things about her moms. She took a deep breath of the sunny, spring air and glanced around.

Someone was already there, waving her over.

“Hi,” the petite blond girl from class two said.

“What are _you_ doing up here.” Hotaru said. “Eating on the roof’s not allowed.”

“Then why are you here?” the blond girl retorted.

“Cause I always come up here when I need to think,” Hotaru said. “I’m allowed.”

“Why?”

“I’m the Principal’s daughter,” Hotaru said, standing straighter. Her father hadn’t actually given her special permission of course, but no one else had questioned her yet.

This girl though, did not have the same reaction of standing, apologizing, and rushing off before Hotaru got her detention. Instead, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “ _You’re Sailor Saturn_!”

“Huh? No!”

“Yes you are!” the girl grinned. “Mr. Tomoe only has one daughter. You’re name’s Hotaru right? He talked about you at the meeting.”

“The meeting?”

“Yeah! Like… oh like two weeks ago. Did you really go to Saturn? How could you breathe there? Did it grow all sorts of plants like the Moon did?”

“Who the hell are you?” Hotaru said.

“Oh…” the girl blushed. “Sorry. I should have started there.” She stood up and held out her hand. “I’m Aino Kara.”

Aino..,

“You’re Mina’s sister?”

“Uhuh!” Kara said. “You’ve fought with her when she’s Venus right? Could you tell me about it? Mina’s not allowed to tell me about it. And Artemis isn’t allowed to talk at _all_. And – oh it’s so good to meet you. I have so many questions. Oh…” she suddenly looked unsure, looking down at the hand Hotaru still hadn’t shaken. “Uh… did you still want me to leave the roof?”

Hotaru sighed. “No.” She reached out and shook Kara’s hand finally. “Why isn’t Mina allowed to talk to you?”

“She is,” Kara said. “Just not about being a Sailor.” She sighed. “That’s why Mom transferred me here when it opened – she thought if I stayed at Juuban I’d end up being a Sailor like Mina.”

“Wait really?”

“Uhuh,” Kara shook her head. “Mina keeps telling her that’s not how it works, but when my Mom gets an idea in her head, it’s hard to get it out.” She turned away from Hotaru and towards the sea. “It’s hard to hear them fighting all the time.”

“They fight?”

“Yeah – I signed up to do tons of after school stuff here so I wouldn’t have to listen to it,” Kara said. “Course, here’s not much fun either. I’ve been trying to find out how to eat lunch up here for ages – it was Mina’s favorite spot at her school – but I just found the stairs today.”

“They don’t tease you too do they?” Hotaru asked.

“No,” Kara scowled. “But if one more person asks me for my sister’s number I’m gonna punch’em.” And she made a fist with her thumb on the inside.

Hotaru shook her head. “Don’t punch like that – you’ll break your thumb. Here,” and she showed Kara with her own fist. “See.”

Kara grinned as she did it and gave the air a practice swipe. It was pretty terrible form in Hotaru’s book. Chibiusa could punch better than that.

Still, at least someone in this school was smiling at her.

“Has Mina ever punched anyone?” Kara asked.

“Loads of times,” Hotaru said. “But if she’s not using her powers she likes kicking them way more.”

“What are her powers like?” Kara asked.

And Hotaru began to explain, saying far more than she’d meant to by the end of the lunch hour. She and Kara were both beaming though, at last having someone at Mugen they could talk to.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Ami blinked and rubbed her eyes as she picked her head up off the console of the Lunar Command Center and leaned back in her chair. Something buzzing had woken her. She glanced up at the Lunar screens. But they were blank.

 _Still nothing_. She hit a few keys to confirm. The computer was still analysing the second of the two crystal shards Usagi had brought back from the moon. The first had fried the computer and taken she and their Mau advisors nearly a week to repair. It had appeared, according to Artemis, that the strange combination of light and dark energies within the crystal shards had overloaded the Lunar Command’s processing power. Ami’d had to go in and program several new tests before she found one that would work. The original crystal shard had disintegrated after testing so she’d been extra careful with the second, spending as much of the past four days here as she could. _Thank god this place wasn’t found out like we were_ , Ami realized as she looked around for whatever was _actually_ buzzing.

It was her phone. She picked it up just before it dropped the call.

“Mizuno,” she answered.

“Ami!” the voice on the other end was hard to place at first.

“Daiki – oh!” the boy she’d gone on a date with weeks ago. The same one she’d cancelled on after they’d been found out. “Daiki – listen. I’m so sorry about,”

“About the Mercury thing? Yeah – don’t worry. I totally understand why you seemed so distant now. And hey – it’s okay that you cancelled. Wow.” He chuckled. “Sorry, I can’t believe you picked up. I’ve been agonizing about calling you. It’s just…you being Mercury is even more cool now. I, I mean you were cool before. I,” he laughed again. “Look at me rambling. Sorry. Look: I wanted to actually have a second date with you. Say Friday?”

“I,” he _wanted_ to date her again. _I’m still not even sure I like him that way!_ she thought.

But it was so rare for any boy to give her the time of day. And, she reasoned, her friends would say go for it.

“Unless you’ve got some other date,” Daiki said.

“No… it’s just,” she looked at the computer. “I might be… busy with stuff.”

“Sailor stuff,” she heard him sigh. “That’s a real shame. I wanted to get to know you better. Well,” his voice became cheery again. “If you are free – let me know. I’ll be waiting on you.”

 _Not every boy would give you this many chances,_ she thought. “I’ll try – I promise.”

“Great! See you then,” and she heard the dial tone. She set the phone down and sighed, turning back to the monitors that had been processing this piece of crystal as delicately as they could for the past few days.

 _Dating and investigating evil is exhausting_ , Ami concluded. _How do the others deal with it?_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Thank you,” Mina said, squinting through the sea of camera flashes. “No further questions.”

“Wait!”

“Sailor Venus, just one more.”

“Please?”

“Why do you never do interviews in uniform?” One reporter asked as he vaulted up onto the stage. Mina pushed past them and through the door that led to the high school auditorium’s green room, slamming the door and sinking back against it.

“Minako.” Her mother beamed at her as she rushed over from across the room, stopping just-short of hugging her and putting both hands on Mina’s shoulders. “You were great out there.” She said. “You stuck to the script, and you didn’t swear once. It even looked like you were smiling. You see: I told you you’d get the hang of it.”

“I guess it is getting easier,” Mina agreed, trying to match her mother’s smile. When she did, it earned her a hug. She tried to draw it out but Hikari pulled away almost instantly, leaving Mina grasping at nothing and feeling more unbalanced than she had when she’d walked in the door. Her mother strode back across the room to get her purse.

“How do you feel, Hikari asked as she led Mina out the back to their car, with only minor difficulty pushing past the few Paparazzi who’d come round this side of the building.

“Exhausted,” Mina sighed. “Ugh, they ask such stupid questions and so many I can’t answer, and they _all_ keep asking if I’ll do an interview in uniform.”

“Would that be so bad?”

“I… no. I just don’t want to.”

“Why ever not?”

“Cause… my Sailor transformation isn’t for… press… stunts.”

“Hmm,” Hikari considered. “One photo shoot surely wouldn’t be that bad – or perhaps a concert for charity. You could set one up to help the victims of your sailor fights.”

Mina’s frown deepened and she shrugged. “I dunno,” she said as they entered the car.

When her mother didn’t say anything for several minutes into their drive, Mina looked over at her. Her eyes were on the road, but they kept glancing Mina’s way.

“What?” she finally asked her mother.

Hikari glanced at her and then looked back to the road. She shook her head and sighed.

“I’m just worried about you honey – I worry a lot. You used to _love_ giving interviews, and singing, and getting photos taken.”

“I… yeah.”

“It was your absolute favorite.” Hikari giggled. “You know I remember this one time – it was right after you won that Rising Stars competition. You were ten.” She giggled. “You spent two hours in the make up room just for a half hour photo shoot. _And_ you came out with the most ridiculous amount of eye shadow.”

Mina chuckled. “I was _ten_. I hardly knew what brush was for what make up.”

“Oh, but you learned so quick.” Hikari said, then sighed. “I was so proud of you that day, that year actually was such a good one for you. And you were so passionate about everything. You could light up a whole room with your acting and your singing.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely,” Hikari smiled, though it faded quickly. She glanced over at Mina again. “And then we went to London… and you changed. I didn’t see it at first, but you did. That was… that was when you started transforming into V, then?”

“Yeah…”

Hikari shook her head. “I wonder all the time if it was my fault, me taking you there in the first place.”

“ _No!”_ Mina said. “Mom… I… I was always meant to be a Sailor. Nothing you could have done would have changed that.”

“Hmmm… I just miss what we used to have so much, Mina. I _want_ you to still like this.” She said, the car finally in their neighbourhood.

“I want to!” Mina said earnestly. “I really do, I swear. I just… don’t like acting anymore.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t have the same appeal.”

Hikari sighed, finally parking the car in their driveway and properly looking at Mina. “I just worry, being a Sailor’s stolen so much from you: so many things you used to love. Why there are days I hardly recognize you and it makes me so sad.”

“I’m the same me!” Mina insisted. “I – you haven’t lost me.”

“That’s good,” Hikari said, putting her hand on Mina’s shoulder. “But I want you to be happy… and you haven’t been happy performing in years.”

“I could be!” Mina said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I could be. I… I really want to be. I promise.”

“I know you do. I know.” Hikari leaned in and brushed her lips against Mina’s forehead. The affection was far too fleeting. Hikari met Mina’s eyes before she stepped out of the car. “We’ll figure something out – maybe you could consider that idea to do a charity event as Venus. If we can just bring your old passion back into your current situation maybe it will spark something.”

“I don’t know…”

“You’ll never know until you try,” Hikari said, and her eyes softened. “You know I love you, right?”

“I know… I love you too,” Mina whispered.

“Then you’ll try it? For me?”

Mina nodded.

“Awww,” Hikari beamed. “That’s the spirit. Oh, I’m making your favorite for dinner too – you deserve it. You did so well today.” And she shut the car door firmly, walking back into the house.

Mina sighed and put her elbow in the open window, resting her head on it. She heard Artemis leap up to perch on the windowsill.

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

“Fine,” she said. “Today was good.” She opened the car door, dislodging her cat from his perch. “I’ve just gotta keep trying harder.” And she walked back into the house. Artemis watched her the whole way. From here, he could also see Hikari in the kitchen, smiling to herself as she worked at the stove.

 _Do you realize what you’re doing to her?_ he thought as he watching Mina’s mother. _Or maybe you’ve planned to do this all along_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Rei successfully avoided her father’s calls and mail communications for two weeks. And successfully avoided reporters questions about them as well. Mina’d said they wouldn’t stop asking, but apparently there were ways. Not everyone was as comfortable around the Great Fire as the scouts after all, and while she didn’t understand _how_ it could flare up into an inferno whenever she became too angry, she nevertheless recognized how useful it was. She kept the door to the fire room open now whenever she absolutely had to answer reporters questions. And for dramatic effect, she often stood in front of it. Phobos and Deimos assured her it wasn’t too mean and they, her grandfather, and Makoto when she was present, had a good laugh whenever the flames managed to scare a reporter off the grounds.

She wasn’t entirely surprised when, after two weeks, Phobos and Deimos frantic screeching heralded the arrival of the hired car at the bottom of Hikawa’s hill, just after five pm. She watched her father get out of the car and turned away from the top of the steps before he spotted her. She walked all the way back to the shrine and slammed the door shut. If her father wanted to see her, he’d have to come to her.

That was how it had worked her entire childhood. He made her go to dinner with him on her birthday every year. _She_ made him walk all the way up the steps to get her. _And_ knock on the door. He made her wear the pretty red dress that looked good for the cameras. _She_ made him buy her favorite dish – fugu – the most expensive on the menu. He quietly suggested boarding school if she wasn’t going to show the face of the best politician’s daughter to the press, _she_ cut ties with him as soon as she turned 18.

That was how it had worked between them up until two years ago – the last time she’d had to see him. Her eighteenth birthday, she’d spent with just her friends and dinner just with Minako. And she’d been looking forward to the same this year.

“You don’t have to have dinner with him,” her Grandfather said as he came to stand beside her near the front door. “Nothing’s changed since you turned 18.”

Something had though. Her identity had been revealed. And as all Mina could talk about these days was their public image and how important it now was, Rei felt the gaze of the cameras more acutely for it. She had been seeing turbulence in the fire ever since this reveal, could tell it might affect them in ways they hadn’t yet anticipated. The novelty for the press would die down soon. As Mina said, its favour could turn on a dime.

She let her phone ring through two calls before she answered.

“Mr. Hino,”

“Rei-chan,” her father tisked. “I know I applaud formality, but you could call me father, you know. Things aren’t so cold between us.”

“They’ve always been cold,” Rei said. “I don’t have to talk to you, you know.”

She hadn’t had to see his face in nearly two years now.

“You don’t,” her father said. “But you may want to – I miss you, Rei. I want to know the whole story about this… sailor business. However else will I know what to tell the press. You know it doesn’t do one any good to simply invent answers.”

He would slander them, was the implication. Unless she agreed on a story to tell them of course. And perhaps allowed him to use his connections to the senshi as a brand new way to get elected to a higher position.

She still wanted to refuse, she wanted to hang up the phone right there.

But she thought of Minako. She sighed. Mina who was cooperating with her mother more than Rei considered healthy just so they would have good relations with the press…

“Fine, we’ll talk.” She groused.

“Splendid,” her father said. “I’ll meet you at the car in ten minutes. Do wear the white dress instead of the red this time, since of course you’ll wear that out on your birthday and the press do hate photographing the same outfit twice.”

“I’ll wear what I want.” She said. “And I’ll meet you in twenty.” She hung up before he could protest. Coercion did no good if you weren’t listening to it after all.

“Rei?” her Grandfather tried to say as she turned around and walked quickly towards her room, but the only response was the slamming of her door.

He shook his head as he opened the door to look out at the archway over the shrine’s steps.

Phobos and Deimos cawed as they landed on his shoulders.

“She’s very much like her mother,” he told them as he watched the sunset. “You know, of course – I tell the two of you enough.” Phobos pecked him lightly on the head. “Well I can’t help repeating it, it’s very true. If only her mother had had the same fire… though she probably wouldn’t have ended up married to... ” Grandpa Hino sighed, still staring out at the shrine’s steps. He could hear the faint hum of the town car’s engine below. “It is a terrible thought, yet I find myself thinking it more and more with age: I’d rather have had her for a daughter than him for a son.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

She decided in the back of the town car, sitting beside him in silence, that she wasn’t going to look at him. Her father loved attention – it was why he loved his job. And she knew nothing would irk him more than her refusing to meet his gaze.

She’d also never liked being reminded that she shared his eyes. He made the color look cold and shrewd. It unnerved her to think hers might ever look the same.

She didn’t speak a word to him until after they’d been seated at the restaurant and ordered the first course. Though he kept up an impressive onesided dialogue of his own. How relieved he was to finally have a way to explain her disappearance and her school absences (to the press) how lovely the weathered been. What a pretty young woman she’d grown up to be _(cause me being pretty in pictures gets so many votes for you doesn’t it_ ). she responded to everything he said with terse nods until there was no car window for her to gaze out of and no menu for her to review. The only thing separating them at the dinner table was the single candle burning between them.

Her father cleared his throat as soon as their waiter was out of earshot.

“So,” he said, pouring a glass of wine for himself and one for her ( _Oh so he’s sucking up then? Guess me behaving myself’s more important than a silly story about letting his underage daughter drink)._ “About this Sailor Senshi business.”

“It’s none of your business,” Rei said, taking the wine.

“I certainly think it is,” he said. “Is this why you haven’t gone into University yet?”

“I’m taking courses,” she defended.

“Those online ones don’t count,” he scoffed. “The high school you went to – I’d certainly expect you to attend a more prestigious program.”

“Well I’m eighteen now,” she said. “and where I get my education’s none of your business anymore.” It wasn’t exactly her fault she’d had to pull out of the university program she’d been accepted to. Ami might be able to handle fighting a new enemy _and_ the course work but she’d more than happily not.

“I always tell you, Rei. Your choices affect your whole family. I shouldn’t have to remind you by now.”

“You mean they affect your career,” she retorted. “Forget what I want.”

She watched him shake his head and pause as their first course was brought out.

“I’ve given you far too much freedom,” he sighed. “Yes, it does affect my career – especially you being a Sailor Senshi. This has come out at the most inopportune time, you realize I am up for re-election.”

“How inconvenient for you,” she said, taking a bite of her food.

“It is,” he said. “Do you have to fight in such a short skirt? It’s entirely improper.”

She didn’t bother responding to that one.

“And you’ve quit right? It’s been nearly two years since one of your messes has shown up on the news. It was hell explaining the power outages and infrastructure damage when my own daughter wasn’t the cause.”

“You and Mrs. Aino are so alike,” she muttered under her breath, then told her father. “No, I can’t ‘quit’ it’s not a job. It’s my destiny.” She said, swirling her food around in its dish. “of course you wouldn’t know that since you don’t have a spiritual bone in you.”

“I have as much as is appropriate for any public figure,” he said. She rolled her eyes. “But I’ll accept that you can’t quit. How often do these enemies of yours come to Earth?”

“When ever they please,” she said.

“Well… what are they? Madmen? Science experiments.”

“Mostly magic and aliens,” she said and smirked when he coughed on a mouthful of his soup. He’d never been good at grasping the supernatural.

“Well then,” he said when he’d recovered. “I hardly think that’s something a group of teenage girls should be fighting – I mean that sounds like the sort of thing our government and the Defense forces should handle.”

“That’s a stupid idea.” Rei countered. “Trust me as much damage our fights cause, at least we win.”

Her father sighed. “Fine – then I wish you could tell your friends to stop giving these interviews. I’d rather this maintain a low profile and fade. It could be very, very bad if you continue to be a front page sensation.”

She hated that she agreed with him, albeit for different reasons. “What’s the matter, can’t stand your daughter stealing the limelight from you.”

He set down his food then and reached his hand out to hers. She moved her own away. But she did look up.

His purple eyes were near perfect reflections of her own.

“That’s not my concern at all, Rei. I worry for _you_. It is dreadfully difficult to be the center of attention – especially given how fickle our sensationalist media can be.” She frowned at him and he continued. “I want to help you. If we can’t find a way to get you out of the spotlight then it’d be a good idea to let me back into your life. I have connections. If another enemy does come to fight you, I could get the defense forces to help, I could make sure the press attention maintained a positive view of you. I could give you something you lack – legitimate political support.”

She stared at him for another long moment. His face looked so serious.

But she could tell from his eyes, as expressive as her own. She could always tell his lies when she saw them.

She shook her head, smirking. “I almost believe you. But that works two ways doesn’t it – you can have the senshi on your side.” She folded her hands in front of her lest he try to reach for them again. “I know how this works. We come to depend on your support and then everytime I don’t do what you want, you threaten to withdraw it. And then that makes you the only politician with any control over the sailor senshi.” She watched his eyes grow cold. “And wouldn’t that just make you an ideal candidate for all the highest offices.”

“It is still far better to work with me than against me Rei.”

“I’ll take my chances.” She said.

He shook his head. “You know I may have erred letting my father raise you. But he convinced me at the time it’d be far better for your moral upbringing than being raised by a nanny would, but it appears he’s instilled a far more rebellious streak in you than is proper.”

“Grandpa’s done more for me than you ever could.” She said as the candle in the middle of the table flared up.

“That’s the problem right there – he’s taught you not to respect me.”

“Not much to respect.”

“Watch your tongue.” Her father lectured, tapping his fingers on the table. “I’m under no illusions that you’ll ever love me Rei. Frankly, I don’t care. But to the press, you’re still an important part of my life.” He leaned towards her. “My father on the other hand is getting on in years. And clearly from some of the ideas he’s encouraged in you, perhaps not the most sane. It would be quite simple to take him into the care of an institution. The press love a mournful and dutiful son just as much as they love a devoted fath-ahhh!”

He reeled back as the candle suddenly snapped outward, setting his toupee aflame. Rei knocked over her chair and his soup as she stood up from the table. Her father had thrown off the toupee and had just dumped a whole glass of water onto it.

“Stay away from Grandpa,” she told him. “Or do you need another reminder I have powers of my own.”

And she turned around and stormed quickly out of the restaurant, bumping into five waiters and a whole party of guests on her way. She ducked behind the building and transformed, leaping up onto the roofs and running the whole way home.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_Wednesday April 2 nd_

_Following our reporting on Tuesday about the shocking public incident of Hino Rei – known senshi Sailor Mars – walking out of dinner with her father, we have brought you the promised details that will shed light on these complicated interactions._

_Mr. Hino and his daughter have long been known to have a distant relationship – in fact Hino’s long expressed his regret for how his love for his country often deprives him of the close familial relationships enjoyed by so many. His work ethic has long been praised by his colleagues._

_Many have long speculated on how the untimely death of his wife at the age of 26 affected the young politician – to say nothing for what a shame it was for his infant daughter to be left without a mother to raise her. Mr. Hino tried his best, everyone always said. And thank goodness for his father who had the means to raise Miss. Hino as best as he could._

_But given the incident on Tuesday, it would appear relationships between Mr. Hino and his daughter are more strained than they appeared. Mr. Hino himself expressed complete shock. “Rei has always been such a well mannered, obedient child,” he exclaimed in an interview Wednesday morning. “All I had done was express concern for her well-being, I know little about the Sailor Senshi and she’d never told me about it. At first I didn’t want to believe she would have tried setting me on fire, but given what I know of her alter ego [Sailor Mars] I can hardly deny it. She speaks of magic and extra-terrestrials being the source of their fights and their powers. And again, I am in shock. I have no way to understand – this isn’t the daughter I raised. This Sailor Mars, whoever she is, is someone else.”_

 

“ _HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?_ ” Haruka heard Mina yell as their balcony door slammed open. Rei, who’d arrived earlier, stood up from the couch.

“I didn’t let anything happen!” Rei fumed at Mina, walking up to her until they were nose to nose. She caught the hand Mina was waving the morning’s newspaper in in a firm grip. “My father was going to be a problem no matter what.”

“Half the news stations are now saying we aren’t human!” Mina yelled at her. “All because you couldn’t keep your pyro-side in-check!”

“Mina…” Usagi said as she too stood up from the couch. But the blond wasn’t looking at her. Her dark blue eyes were hard and angry as they glared at Rei.

“He threatened Grandpa!” Rei shouted at Mina. She reached for her other hand, but Mina jerked it away.

“Well a fine way you decided to handle it then, isn’t it?” Mina said.

“That did it,” Michiru murmured in Haruka’s ear. Indeed. Rei had stepped back, backing into Usagi who grabbed her shoulders. The priestess had closed her eyes to stem the tears that had begun to trickle down her face.

“I had _just_ gotten us off the front page,” Mina carried on not noticing Haruka walking up beside her. “And here you go throwing us right back, center stage, in the worst possible – _OW_!”

Haruka’d torn the newspaper out of her hand and used it to smack Mina over the head. “Enough.” Haruka told her. “A day off of the front page is hardly an accomplishment – any one of us was bound to bring the spotlight back. And anyone of us could have turned the press attention negative.” Mina matched her glare for glare. Haruka continued. “We can’t all plaster ourselves across magazine covers to keep the press happy.”

“I-I didn’t,”

“You’re the most popular issue at the news stands,” Michiru said.

“It was a good idea!” Mina protested.

“It was Hikari’s idea,” Artemis murmured from his perch on the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen. Luna, Michiru, and Setsuna, all next to him, frowned.

“A leader’s supposed to listen to their teammates’ sides of things before jumping to conclusions,” Setsuna said softly. Minako’s face grew red as she looked away.

“Especially when that teammate’s someone they love,” Michiru added.

Minako hung her head, both shoulders hunched forwards. After a few moments, she shuffled over to the couch where Usagi had sat down with Rei and wrung her hands together.

“Rei-chan…” she whispered. “I’m sorry…”

Rei’s response was to move into the corner of the couch, and pull Usagi along with her, leaving no room for Mina to sit beside her. She turned towards the television, looking away from everyone.

Mina sighed and looked at Usagi, who offered her the slightest smile and patted the seat beside her.

“I didn’t mean it,” Mina insisted.

Rei huffed, placing both hands in her lap.

“I believe you.” Usagi said, placing a hand on each of their arms as Mina sank down next to her. “But you still shouldn’t have said that to Rei.”

Just then, Jupiter leapt up onto the balcony, de-transforming as she walked into the Penthouse, still carrying her hammer, which now barely left her side.

“What’d I miss?” Makoto frowned as she plopped down on the couch opposite her friends.

Michiru sighed. “Just tensions over the press running a little too high.”

“Oh that article about Rei – that was total bullshit. I can’t believe they’re saying you lit him on fire on purpose. You can’t help it if he made you that angry.”

“Mhmmm,” Rei nodded and glared in Mina’s direction. The blond closed her eyes and sank further back into her seat.

“Don’t ask,” Michiru advised when Makoto looked about to say something. She glanced into the Aqua mirror and smiled a bit when it showed her Haruka’s eyes. They’d made frequent appearances there the past few weeks whenever she glanced at it. She wished it would show her Setsuna’s too. She concentrated on the reflective glass a moment longer and watched Haruka’s eyes blur into a different, more useful image. “I wouldn’t worry too much about your father’s threats,” she told Rei. “Trust me, your Grandfather is a few steps ahead of you.”

She refused to explain as they waited another ten minutes for Hotaru and Chibiusa to crash through the front door, Hotaru running immediately to all three of her mothers, whom she hadn’t seen in over two weeks. She dove straight for Michiru, the centremost of the three of them, and hugged her and then each of them in kind. None of the inner senshi commented as she wiped her eyes on Michiru’s shirt, though Usagi and Makoto had to take out their own handkerchiefs.

“I wanna come home,” Hotaru pouted at her moms. “I don’t care if I get found out. I love Papa, but I hate staying there all the time.”

“I know, Sweet Pea,” Haruka whispered to her. “But I promise you, it’s much better if you’re able to be a normal kid for a little longer. Getting all this attention as an adult’s hard enough.”

“And once the attention dies down,” Setsuna said. “You’ll be able to visit more often.”

“When will that be?” Hotaru demanded.

“Sooner than you think,” Setsuna said. Hotaru scowled. That was Mama’s code for “forever.” She turned around in Michiru’s arms as Mercury’s boots made a clack on the balcony and Ami rushed in with her blue palmtop computer open in her hand.

“Sorry,” she said, as she sat down between Makoto and Chibiusa. “Class got out late.”

“You’re fine,” Setsuna said, mirroring Haruka as each of them put a hand on Hotaru’s shoulders. Everyone in the room turned to Ami as they tried to read the look on her face. She was the one who’d asked them to find a way to meet, after all (through their communicators no less). The results from the Crystal shard had finally come in.

“What did you find?” Mina whispered.

Ami cleared her throat, reviewing the computer results one more time just to be sure, no reason to alarm anyone unnecessarily. But they showed the same thing they had that morning. She swallowed a lump in her throat and looked at all of them before speaking.

“The results were odd,” she began. “Because at first they appeared to show both incredibly light and incredibly dark energy readings. I’d never seen anything like them before so I started analysing each energy source separately.”

By this point, Luna and Artemis had both jumped down from the counter and over to the Mercury computer to review the results. No one liked the frowns of confusion on either of their faces.

“The light energy is like ours, though it more closely resembles the Sailor Starlights energies,” Ami said.

“Our enemies are Sailors?” Chibiusa asked, looking around at everyone. But Usagi shook her head, her grip on Rei and Mina’s hands tightened.

“I think I know what you’re suggesting,” Usagi whispered. “Is the dark energy… chaos?”

“Yes – I didn’t recognize it as such at first because I never did get a reading from any of the Sailor Animates before…” Ami cleared her throat. “But the analysis points to that. It’s very strange: it registers no relation to any known matter. I’d even speculate it comes from outside our universe.”

“That might explain _some_ of my lack of sight,” Setsuna muttered, gripping Hotaru’s shoulder tightly, an action mirrored by Haruka and Michiru.

Hotaru was staring at the computer. “Then… the chaos energy was inside the crystal shard.”

“Something like that,” Ami said. “I’d even hypothesize that the crystal shard was its power source.”

“But… then how’s it like a Sailor Scout?” Chibiusa asked.

All of the adults looked at each other, but it was Hotaru who answered, voicing the realization they were all hoping she and Chibiusa wouldn’t put together – too shocking even for any of them to say aloud. “It wasn’t _like_ a Sailor it _was_ a Sailor,” Hotaru whispered, wide-eyed. “The crystal shard… was a broken star seed.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

It saw the picture in the mortal “Tribune” as it was called, through the eyes of one of the bright lights it’d sent down to Earth. Convenient, that they still retained their mortal senses.

It was less interested in the Senshi depicted though, than the building behind her. At last, a residence of sorts, a place its captured lights could look for one of Sol’s current guardians.

It needn’t capture every planet, nor wait-out the star’s natural cycles so long as it could capture a guardian first. Pog had fallen in this way in less than one of its mortals’ days; Sirius, in an even shorter time. Sol would fall too.

 _Do not get yourselves incinerated,_ it ordered the lights down on Earth. _I’d like to not waste all of my power on one average, unremarkable star._

_~Á Suivre~_


	8. Consumption of the Flame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As we used to say at Camp WIP: I was Alive, Alert, Awake, & wicked ENTHUSIASTIC this weekend. I also have LOADS of time on my hands. So enjoy another DOUBLE UPDATE. 
> 
> Also for gh: Pay close attention to what’s frustrating Neptune in this chapter and see if you can figure out what’s actually going on cause she’s way off (my poor, stressed psychic). Of course you will probably be far too distracted by the battles… yes I did just say battles. Plural. Enjoy ;)
> 
> Disclaimer: Not mine. We’re all square on that point, yeah? Wicked.

**Consumption of the Flame**

_The noon sky suddenly darkened to the blackness of midnight during a new moon. Screams echoed from the streets below. From the roof, the sun appeared distorted by heavy bands of blackness, constricting around it until not a spec of its light shown through. The wind stilled. The life that thrummed through the planet jolted to a halt._

_When the bands of darkness began to uncoil, the star was all wrong._

_The sunlight that now shone down on the planet had aged billions of years. Everything was painted in deep, red light and time seemed to speed up to match the star’s new age. Leaves withered in an instant, disintegrating off their branches. Rich forests became wood husks dotted through dusty graveyards. Volcanic eruptions ceased and earthquakes shuddered to a stop as deep below the crust the tectonic plates cooled into one, dead shell. The planet, in the blink of an eye, became a grey, cold ruin lit by the red light of a dying sun._

_~AgeofAquarius_ ~

At exactly 14:33 on Friday in Boston, Massachusetts, and 03:33 on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan, five people woke from the same dream in the same state of absolute terror.

Mamoru Chiba had not woken so suddenly from an afternoon nap in years, but the dream shocked him so badly that he fell off the couch in his Cambridge apartment and winded himself as he hit the floor.

“Your Highness!” Jadeite shouted for him as he raced from his room.

Mamoru sat up off the floor, running his hand frantically through his hair.

It was too early to call Usagi. She’d be asleep. He stood up off the floor and brushed off Jadeite’s help, stumbling and then running to the window.

The normal white-yellow light peaking through the clouds shone down on the faint dusting of snow that still covered the city, and made the first of spring’s budding leaves stand out brightly on their trees.

Mamoru leaned his head against the cold window glass, still trying to catch his breath, which led into a violent coughing fit, the kind that had been getting more frequent as the weeks passed. Even as exams closed in on him, he knew this was nothing related to stress. He could feel it if he concentrated: something was not quite right in the heart of the Earth.

“Your Highness?” Jadeite asked. Mamoru didn’t even bother correcting him today as his friend pressed a glass of water into his hand. He took a large sip of it, letting the cool water stifle the next coughing fit.

“I need to speak with Helios,” Mamoru said.

Across the world, Hotaru Tomoe didn’t fall out of bed, but she did wake biting her hand to keep from screaming. She threw off her sweat soaked covers and clapped her hands, lighting up every lamp in her room.

It wasn’t enough light. She curled her knees up to her chest and glanced out her bedroom window at the half moon. It was a normal, brilliant white. Surely that meant that the sun remained bright and normal too.

 _I want Mamas and Papa,_ she thought as she shivered. She tried to reach out for them psychically, but she wasn’t that good at it yet and, in her frazzled state, she could only focus on the nightmare. Even with the moon clear through her window and the many lamps illuminating her room in a cool, calming purple, everything still seemed tinted the same red as the dying star.

She’d just picked her cell phone up off her bedside table when it rang and she accepted the call with a shaky swipe of her thumb. She held it up to her ear and whispered lest she wake her father in the next room. “Papa!”

“ _Heya, Sweet Pea,_ ” Haruka-papa’s voice was warm and calm. “ _Bad vision?_ ”

“Uh-huh,” she sniffed.

“ _It’s gonna be alright. Why don’t you tell me about it.”_

She sniffed again and rubbed the tears off her face, wishing she had Papa here to rock her and feeling embarrassed that she was crying at all. Surely her Mamas had had the same vision just now. _I’m so stupid; I’m crying and I bet they’re already working on figuring it out._

Across the city though, it was not quite so. Michiru’d awoken nearly sick and awakened Haruka along with her as she’d scrambled out of bed. She and Setsuna had burst into the hallway at the same time, the same tight expression of dread reflected back at them from the other’s too-pale face.

“Need this,” Haruka asked Michiru, passing the Aqua Mirror to her. She grasped it in clammy hands and saw Haruka’s eyes reflected back at her on the first glance, obscured partially by the turquoise of her own hair. She scrapped her hair out of her face hastily as she sought the image she and Setsuna desperately needed to see.

At last, Sol’s image blazed out of the mirror glass in its normal bright, yellow. Haruka watched both Michiru and Setsuna sigh in relief and rub their hands over their faces. Michiru lowered the mirror to her side.

“I have to check the Time Dimension,” Setsuna said, transforming into Pluto and summoning the Time Doors. She was gone in the time it took the two of them to blink.

“Hotaru…” Michiru whispered, and Haruka nodded at her, her phone already at her ear.

“Heya, Sweet Pea,” she whispered as she put an arm around Michiru and walked the both of them down the hall to the living room. Never once in all their years together had Michiru ever been able to sleep after one of her visions. But she always insisted on seeing the sunrise. The living room and its balcony, on the east facing side of the building, were the perfect spot.

They’d been through two cups of tea and had just noticed the sky outside begin to lighten, when Pluto returned, shaking her head as she de-transformed and curling her hands into fists. An entire Time Dimension’s worth of nothing. There was no hint that the sun would ever be in danger of dying in its early-middle age, nor a single sign that anything was even _amiss_. The path to Crystal Tokyo was still a blank expanse of fog. Michiru’s future was still an anomalous nothing. And, Setsuna rubbed her temples; she had the worst headache.

“Nothing,” she reported to Haruka when she walked up beside her.

“I’d got that much,” Haruka said. “Come on, sit. Before you pass out.” She guided Setsuna over to the couch where Michiru was already curled up against the armrest, gazing into the Aqua Mirror with furrowed brows and a deep frown. Haruka sat beside her and pulled Setsuna down with her. Haruka was prepared for Michiru resuming her place resting on her shoulder. She was unprepared for Setsuna doing the same. She recovered quickly though, wrapping her arm around Setsuna.

“Is Hotaru okay?” Setsuna whispered, sighing and curling into Haruka’s side.

“Yeah,” Haruka said, “Shaken up. Said she’d go back to sleep. I think she’s lying.”

“And the others?”

“Coming over tonight,” Haruka said.

“Not that it’ll do much good,” Michiru complained, sighing and turning the Aqua Mirror over in her lap. “Nothing in the mirror. And Rei probably won’t have any luck with the fire.”

“So neither of you saw what’s coming?” Haruka asked. Both of them shook their heads.

“Even with the warning,” Setsuna whispered. “We’ll still have to let it come to us.”

Michiru affirmed that. “The only thing I’m sure of is that the vision means it’s on its way.”

The three of them stared out at the rising sun. As comforting as the sight of its normal, white rays lightening the sky was, they did nothing to dispel the dread that filled the three of them. Something was coming to threaten that sunrise. And they could do nothing but wait until it had already crossed their paths.

A few neighbourhoods away, in Juuban’s oldest shrine, the final member of their group watched not the sunrise, but the high, dancing flames of the Great Fire. Rei was deep in meditation, concentrating only on the flames as the hours passed by, and accompanied only by Makoto, who’d broken down both of their doors at 03:33 that morning when Rei’s scream had woken her.

She’d been trying to _see_ for hours, but all the fire would do was play the dream back to her in more vivid detail. The sun disappeared behind the bands of blackness within 42 seconds. It reappeared twice as big and an aged, bloody red. It wasn’t just the trees that would die: so would the flowers, the bushes, the vines, even the moss that grew on the older buildings. She’d felt the Pacific Rim’s activity grind to a halt and seen Tokyo Bay freeze solid eleven times before she gave up at last.

“Nothing,” she whispered, and Makoto swore as she reached out to squeeze Rei’s shoulder. Rei frowned. The sunlight from the open door was far too bright for dawn. “You’re late for work.”

“Usagi and Nephrite have it covered,” Makoto assured her. “Mina’s on her way here.”

 _Minako_ … Rei took out her phone and curled her hands tightly around it. She wanted to see Mina, but she was still mad from yesterday. “She’s really getting up this early to see me?” Rei whispered.

“Why wouldn’t she?” Makoto frowned. “She’s busy, but that doesn’t mean you’re not important to her.”

As Makoto talked, Rei checked her texts. There was one:

**_Minako <3: Swingin by soon._ **

“ _Swinging by” as in she’s busy and can’t stay long._ Rei scowled and texted back.

**“Route Venus”: Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. Go do your celebrity shit.**

**Minako <3: But REI… :(**

**“Route Venus”: I’m still mad at you**.

“I don’t need her here,” Rei told Makoto. “I’m fine.”

Makoto sighed. “If you say so,” she said, and slung a firm, muscled arm around Rei’s shoulders. Her hand was comfortingly warm as it rubbed soothing circles across Rei’s back. “You still feel shaky as hell,” Makoto said. “What did you _see_?”

Rei took a deep breath, leaning into Makoto. She closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was Minako… while also trying to pretend that didn’t mean she wanted to see Minako. “The Sun just… went dark,” Rei began to explain. Goosebumps rose on the back of Makoto’s neck as she listened. Her right hand flexed as if to grasp the hammer that was still on the bedside table in her room.

She didn’t like the sound of this vision at all.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

That night’s meeting confirmed only what they all already knew: that an attack of some kind was on its way. And also that in the 24 hours since their last meeting Rei’s father had conducted another lengthy interview about her with the press (to make matters worse there’s been international news outlets present). Minako would be gathering them just as much attention on Sunday as well, positive, she said, to counter whatever angle Rei’s father was aiming for. Positive was a relative term to the rest of them though.

“You’re going to sing… as Sailor Venus?” Makoto deadpanned as she raised an eyebrow at Mina. “Cause that’ll really get people to respect us as crime fighters.”

“It’s not about respecting us as crime fighters,” Mina insisted over the sound of the news playing in the background. One or more of them had been staying tuned to it all day, to say nothing for the alerts Ami’d programmed into the Mercury computer, all in the hopes of catching the enemy at the first sign of an attack. “It’s about convincing them we’re still _normal_ after…” Mina bit her tongue. Rei still hadn’t spoken to her all day. As it was, her girlfriend huffed and pointedly looked away from her. She was sitting on the _other_ couch today. She’d gotten up when Mina’d sat down, even with Ami between them, and had promptly wedged herself between Usagi and Makoto.

“I agree with Makoto,” Artemis piped up, everyone in the room turned to look at him where he and Luna were perched in the window to the kitchen. “They’ll realize you’re human soon enough. Mr. Hino’s opinion won’t be popular forever – especially the next time you have enemies to save people from.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t worry,” Chibiusa said. “The Venus in Crystal Tokyo – _hey_!” she rubbed her arm where Hotaru had elbowed her. “What?”

“Mama would say you shouldn’t give away stuff about the future,” Hotaru said.

“That I would,” Pluto announced through their communicators. A second later, the Time Doors materialized in the penthouse living room and Sailor Pluto stepped out. Pluto nodded at Hotaru. “Thank you for keeping Time safe for me, Little One.” She said before de-transforming.

Hotaru smiled and sat up a little straighter. “No problem.”

“People do know we’re human in Crystal Tokyo though, right?” Usagi asked.

Setsuna put a finger to her lips and shook her head – not simply because she couldn’t tell them about the future – but because, since the timeline to Crystal Tokyo had collapsed, she had no way to _know_.

“Regardless I feel like a concert in your senshi form is the wrong kind of attention – especially after the magazine cover,” Michiru said, her hair up in a ponytail today. She’d gotten frustrated with it around noon, by which point she’d checked the mirror upwards of twenty-five times. In every instance, her hair had _refused_ to stay out of her face. Even afterwards there’d still been stray strands in her way every time she glanced at the glass – like now. She scrapped back her hair again and frowned. Haruka’s eyes were still the first image she saw. She was starting to feel guilty about them. Clearly, the Aqua Mirror meant to remind her that she and Setsuna had yet to tell Haruka what had happened to Michiru’s future. She focused on Minako, seeing tomorrow’s concert and an older, darker haired look-a-like of Minako talking back stage to someone she recognized – an executive from Tokyo’s largest record label. “All I see this concert doing,” she told Mina as she turned the mirror towards Artemis, “is making you more of a sensation – it’ll keep the public’s attention on us longer.”

“It’s for charity,” Mina protested. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think it’d get us some brownie points.”

Artemis leapt up onto Michiru’s shoulder so he could speak more quietly to the three outer senshi. If anyone could talk sense into Minako… “She’s been complaining about it for the past few days,” he whispered. “She doesn’t want to do it, she’s making up excuses. It was Hikari’s idea. And she’s been all over Mina to do really, really well at it.”

“It also sounds like it makes her a target,” Haruka murmured. If there was anything she’d learned from their last encounter with a chaos agent, it was that they’d attack the Senshi first. This one had had no trouble at all going straight for trying to destroy the planets. She had no doubt the most public of them might be in the enemy’s sights. “Where’s this concert taking place?”

“In front of the central shopping mall,” Artemis informed her.

The three of them tuned back into the Inners conversation just as Mina switched from defending herself to strategy.

“You said there was turbulence in the fire,” she said to Rei, trying not to be hurt when Rei nodded without looking at her. “And Mamoru sensed something wrong within the Earth.”

“Mhmm.” Usagi nodded. “Helios and he can finally sense something. Mamo-chan thinks whatever’s threatening Earth was sent here while we were away three weeks ago.”

“So it noticed we were gone,” Mina murmured. “I don’t like the sound of that. Anyways,” she nodded to Ami “Tomorrow, see if you can scan within the Earth – Elysion if you can get readings there.”

“I’m sure Luna and I can work something out,” Ami said.

“We’ll get Mamoru’s help if we have to,” Luna confirmed.

“And me?” Makoto asked.

“Might want to close the shop for the day tomorrow,” Mina advised, saying the same thing Haruka’d been thinking “If it can sense when we’re away and attack at those times, it can probably also find us.” She nodded to Makoto. “Best idea I have for you – and the three of you,” she looked at Ami, Rei, and Hotaru. “Go to Lunar Command. Usagi and Chibiusa will be with you. You can all move together if there’s an attack elsewhere, but if they attack the Command centre, your job tomorrow’s to keep Usagi and Chibiusa safe.”

“What!” Usagi and Chibiusa exclaimed at the same time.

“But we don’t even know the attack will be tomorrow!” Chibiusa pouted. “I’m not hiding under the arcade.”

“And I’m not hiding from whatever’s coming,” Usagi protested. “I’ve taken on this enemy on the Moon already – I know I can fight it.”

“Exactly why it might look for you first!” Mina told her. “It’s seen you and Chibiusa. It knows you’re a threat.” She looked to the Outer Senshi. “I’d rather know they’re somewhere difficult to reach.”

“I second that,” Setsuna said, eliciting a startled sound from Chibiusa. “Serenity is integral to the future. Having her in a defensible location makes sense.”

“We’ll keep an eye out from above ground,” Haruka said. “Or from 4th dimensional ground.”

“So you’re trying to keep everyone else safe,” Rei worried. “And you’re _still_ doing the concert.” She was finally looking at Minako, albeit to glare at her. “How is that smart?”

“Hey if they get it on camera at least they’ll get good action shots,” Minako insisted. She sighed. “Besides – the show must go on.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“V! V! V! V!”

Sailor Venus stood a hair’s breadth from the large, blue curtain, selected to make her uniform stand out even more on the stage. The cheers sounded duller than those that had cheered her on as a 12-year-old, nabbing members of the Dark Agency on the streets of London. They felt different than those who had applauded her triumph the when she’d stopped a Negaverse-instigated robberies in Tokyo. She lowered the microphone to her side. These cheers were different than the admiring praise of fans and rescued civilians. These sounded much less like encouragement and much more like demands.

 _What sort of leader’s at the beck and call of anyone who wants to take a selfie with her?_ Mina frowned. She wished Artemis were here. He’d pointedly refused to get in the car with them that morning.

The music started from the speakers beyond the curtain. The cheering intensified into screaming chants.

“ _V! V! V! V!”_

“ _Minako!_ ” Her mother’s voice in her earpiece made her wince. In her civilian form the volume would have been fine. Clearly no one had factored in her enhanced hearing. “ _You’re on in 5… 4…”_

“Wait,” Venus whispered. “There’s more important things I should be doing.”

 _“Play the intro again,”_ Her mother said to someone else _._ Then to Minako: “ _Mr. Hino’s press conference the other day has everyone from here to AP’s headquarters thinking you’re temperamental vigilantes. Trust me honey. The best way you can help your friends right now is by giving them a positive reputation. Plus, don’t you hear those fans? They love you – I know you can do this Mina. I believe in you.”_

_“V! V! V! V!”_

She took a deep breath and lifted the microphone back up, trying not to crack the cool plastic by gripping it too tightly.

“I just have to be V today,” Sailor Venus muttered “V could act better than anyone. That’s all this is. Acting.”

 _And I’m supposed to love acting,_ she thought. _Maybe all the fighting I’ve done’s made me lose sight of that. I can love it again._

“ _V! V! V! V!_ ”

“Fake it ‘til you make it, Venus,” she coached herself. She squared her shoulders, flipped her hair, and (as the second play through of the intro raced on) concentrated longest on putting a believable grin on her face.

When she’d almost convinced herself, the intro was fading. She ran out into the deafening cheers and blinding camera flashes.

“ _Hellooooo Tokyo!”_ she shouted into the mic. “ _Looks like we’ve got a full house tonight! Thank you all for coming out to support the Senshi Fund’s inaugural donation event!”_

 _“WE LOVE YOU V!”_ some one shouted. Then three more followed. Wave after wave of endearments were screamed in her ears.

“ _And IIIIIII love you!”_

 _That’s true,_ Venus thought, closing her eyes to block the crowds and the camera flashes. _I love this city. I love its people… and I_ should _love this. This should be_ easy _._

She was grateful the cheering kept on another two minutes. It gave her the time she needed to remember the first song.

 

On the rooftop of a tall department store several blocks away, three other senshi and a white cat stared down at the bright orange singer on the stage. To her audience, she was probably dazzling. But these onlookers knew her better. Her dancing was far too stiff.

“I know that look,” Sailor Neptune murmured. “She’s trying to remember the next song.”

“Sure it’s a good idea for you to leave her alone down there?” Uranus asked Artemis, who was sulking on her shoulder.

“This is Mina’s choice,” Artemis said. “I keep trying to tell her this isn’t what she wants, and she keeps not listening to me.” He sighed. “I’m hoping if I’m not nagging her, she’ll stop being annoyed at me and actually listen to what I’ve been saying to her.”

“It’s complicated when it’s your parents,” Uranus told Artemis. “I’d know that better than anyone.”

“All the more reason you should trust your instincts with Mina,” Pluto commented.

“What’s that mean?” Artemis asked.

Uranus furrowed her brows, a thoughtful frown on her face. Finally she nodded. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Not too abruptly,” Pluto cautioned. “Like I said.”

“Trust my instincts,” Uranus winked at her. “I gotcha.”

“Are you supposed to tell her that?” Michiru asked, pushing back her hair (though the wind was blowing it away from her face) and gazing into the mirror again: still no sign of the enemy.

Pluto shrugged, turning so her sharp eyes could get a three-sixty view of the city. Still nothing. “Being blind is not a situation I particularly enjoy,” she said. “At least Mina’s future, I can help along somewhat.”

“Does that mean there’s someone else’s you’ve lost track of?” Uranus worried.

When Pluto’s gaze shifted towards the sky, Uranus backtracked. “You don’t have to tell me.”

It unnerved her when Pluto sighed and shook her head. “I do have to tell you,” she whispered. “I just hadn’t worked out how.”

Haruka’s eyes shifted between Pluto and Neptune. “Who…?” but she shook her head. “Tonight,” she said. She shifted her gaze back to Venus and the crowd around her. “Now, let’s just make sure nothing comes to hit the giant target Venus’s made on her head.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Beneath Crown Arcade, Luna, Sir. Nephrite, and Sailors Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Moon, and Chibi Moon watched the “Sailor V” concert on one of Lunar Command’s monitors. The remaining four were loaded with streams of data. Everything from the morning news headlines to the top hash-tags was racing across the screens.

 _“The algorithm I designed will take the key words I input together with the trends and patterns that have emerged during our other major fights,”_ Mercury had informed them when they’d arrived. _“If there’s_ _mention of anything – anywhere, we’ll know within seconds_.”

“I don’t think Venus is having fun,” Sailor Chibi Moon said.

“I just hope the enemy doesn’t attack her,” Mercury worried, biting her lip. “Even if Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are standing by, she’s still far too exposed.”

Venus had sung through three songs, and Lunar Command had gone through 1.43 terabytes of data, before the screen on the centre-right flashed red. Mercury and Luna darted to it, Mercury isolating the data stream that had triggered the alarm and Luna pulling up a video feed.

It was from a cell phone, the fuzzy camera image blurry and shaky as the person holding the phone ran. But there was no mistaking the TV tower, or the black shadow twining around the top of it. They could just make-out the green light in the centre of the long shadow.

“Attack on the TV tower,” Mercury said into her communicator, sending out a team-wide transmission. “We’re en route.”

 _“Standing by,_ ” Uranus answered.

 _“Copy!”_ Rei’s voice shouted, sounding harried.

“Everyone,” Sailor Moon nodded, holding out her hands. “Let’s go.”

The five Senshi and Nephrite joined hands in the centre of the control room and in a multi-coloured flash, they had teleported away. Luna focused back on the monitors. Venus concert was still playing on the left-most screen. The next three lit up with every camera with a view of the TV Tower as the final screen carried on analysing any and all data available to it. Luna sat up on top of the controls and watched Sailor Moon and the others appear at the tower’s base, immediately dodging a blast of dark energy from the shadow circling overhead. It split into seven smaller shadows as she watched. Luna clicked a few buttons on the controls to get a better view.

She was calm as she watched Saturn take the first hit, her Silence Glaive Surprise dissolving just before. She was still calm as she watched Chibi Moon dive in front of two, launching an attack Luna’d never seen her use before. It reduced the largest shadow’s size by half in a flurry of snowflakes. She was even calm as four and then eight more of the shadows rose out of the asphalt and surrounded the group of them.

Luna’s calm she could attribute to many years of practice.

But it never stopped her from hating this part of her duty.

“ _Sailor Moon! On your left!_ ” Luna shouted just in time for Sailor Moon to leap partially out of the way as a blast of shadow energy clipped her on the shoulder. She slammed into the ground and Luna winced along with her, but the stubborn Senshi of the Moon was back on her feet in seconds.

“ _You’re gonna pay for that_ ,” Luna heard Sailor Moon shout as she leapt to avoid yet another attack – one that Luna hadn’t seen coming.

 _I hate when we’re powerless to help them_ , Luna thought as she watched all three views of the battle with a calm, tactical gaze.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“ _Sailor Mars!”_

_“Miss. Hino!”_

_“Channel 4’s prepared to offer a sizable donation if you speak to us!”_

_“Any response at all to your father?”_

_“Please!”_

_“Mars,”_

_“Miss. Hino,”_

_“Miss. Mars.”_

Rei scowled. She could still hear them, and the volume on her headphones wouldn’t go up any higher. She yanked them free of her ears as Mina’s voice soared through the chorus of the song she’d wrote for her at Christmas.

“Go talk to Venus!” she shouted at her empty room as she stuck her fingers in her ears. It did no good. She groaned. She could still hear the mob of reporters outside.

They had been there even before she’d woken up and the questions had bombarded her the moment she opened the doors of the shrine. There was no way she’d have made it down to _The Crown_ without revealing the location of their base to the press. That was the last thing they needed: everyone knowing they had two alien cats who’d built the world’s most powerful super computer under an arcade.

She heard several reporters scream and sat up in bed.

“ _Goddamn birds!”_ a few of them cursed.

Rei smirked. _At least Phobos and Deimos are having fun_.

She hadn’t seen her Grandfather since he’d looked outside at 10, bemoaned that none of the reporters were attractive, and promptly declared it was as good a day as any for a holiday and a nap.

 _How can he sleep through this?_ She groaned and reached for her phone on the other pillow. No new texts.

 _Cause everyone else managed to get from home to the arcade without getting a camera shoved in their face,_ Rei scowled. Even Makoto’d managed to avoid the press cause she’d chosen last night of _all_ nights to spend with Nephrite for the first time. _Jerk,_ Rei thought. _She could have at least come back to distract them while I snuck out._ Then she sighed. _And she’s even more of a jerk cause she’s so nice I feel guilty calling her that._ She smacked her phone over her face. _Stupid Makoto and her stupid, lucky, anonymous boyfriend…_

She checked the news next, hovering over the live feed from Venus’ concert for a whole five minutes before caving and clicking on it. Her remaining anger faded into worry as she watched Venus dance and sing her way across the stage. _You seem like a robot…_

She couldn’t bring herself to look away, watching through a full half hour before her communicator flared to life.

 _“Attack on the TV Tower,”_ Mercury announced. “ _We’re en route_.”

“ _Standing By_ ,” Uranus said.

“Copy!” Rei shouted, jumping out of bed. “ _Mars Eternal Make-Up!”_

She heard the shouts outside grow from loud to raucous, as she became Sailor Mars in a bright flash of red flames. She threw open her window and landed on the ground, leaping into the air amid dozens of camera flashes.

 _I hope I’m not too late to the fight_ , Mars thought as she landed on the shrine roof. She jumped again.

Halfway to the tall tree at the edge of the grounds something cold and heavy slammed into Mars side, exploding into thousands of shocks of freezing energy as it knocked the wind out of her and sent her slamming, shoulders first, into the ground.

“ _Is that an enemy?”_

_“What the hell?”_

_“Mars, what is that?”_

The questions soon faded into screams as a rain of other blasts pelted the area. Many of the reporters left their equipment on the ground as they ran; those that did get hit glowed with an aura of black light and collapsed.

They didn’t get back up.

“ _Mars Flame SNIPER_!” Rei said, launching her attack and rolling away from another blast. She hit one of the shadows overhead dead-on, and it shrieked, a hole burnt straight through it.

Until it glowed faintly blue around the edges and the hole through it healed. Another bolt of dark energy launched at her. This one she blocked with her arms. She winced as the cold energy seared worse than the hottest fire even through her gloves. She scrambled for her communicator.

“ _Atta –_ ahh!” Something cold shot straight out of the ground at her feet, taking the communicator away with it. When the shadow spit it back onto the dirt, the metal watch was warped and twisted and the screen cracked. Mars glared and turned round, and round, and round.

The reporters had gotten away. _Thank goodness_. But _she_ was surrounded – by not one, but four shadow creatures. She let off another two attacks near-simultaneously and dove through the gap her fire created. She ran for the cover of the tallest tree, all the while praying Pluto would bend the time rules just _this_ once.

 _The Shrine_! she thought to Neptune and Pluto. _Help_!

She had no time to get a response as another blast of dark energy exploded the thousand-year-old tree she’d hid behind into a millions-strong mass of splinters. Mars shouted as the wooden shrapnel stabbed into her arms and legs and rolled to her feet as she ran between another copses of trees. Her next attack joined forces with a _World Shaking_ and a _Violin Tide_ that reduced one of the shadows to the size of a golf ball.

But it was still there, the red glow surrounding it suggesting it would regenerate soon. And there were still three more plenty able to distract Uranus and the others.

So focused were they on the fight, that they didn’t notice the determined group of eight photographers and one news caster who’d managed to run around the shrine and help each other up onto the roof, dauntless enough to get the footage that would make their careers and impulsive enough not to think about the consequences…

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Sailor Venus heard the communication in the middle of her sixth song, freezing on stage right in the middle of the chorus.

“ _Attack on the TV Tower.”_

 _Seven blocks away,_ Venus thought, dropping the microphone. It hit the stage with an ear-splitting screech.

“ _We’re en route.”_

 _“Minako what just happened?”_ Her mother’s voice shouted in her earpiece _._

_“Standing By.”_

_“V! V! V! ... V?”_

_“Copy!”_

_“MINAK –”_

Venus tore the ear piece from her ear and threw it down onto the stage as she leapt up, onto the top of it, and then onto the closest building, running towards the dark shadows she could now see hovering all around the TV Tower.

Halfway there, with the Love Chain already clutching in her fist, she stopped short, catching a glimpse of something in the window of a nearby office building. She looked at it. _An explosion_? She whipped around to see the view reflected by the glass.

It took less than a second for her to recognize the hill in the heart of Juuban. She was already running for it when she saw a burst of red flames collide, mid-air, with something decidedly dark and much, much bigger than Mars’ attack.

_I’m coming Rei!_

~ _AgeofAquarius~_

They’d been fighting for twenty minutes, and Sailor Moon had reduced seven of the shadows to plain, splinters of star seeds littered across the pavement, when Mercury realized something was wrong.

“There’s seven of them left!” she shouted, pulling up her visor to double check the count of shadows swirling around the tower overhead.

“ _Gonna be six soon!_ ” Jupiter shouted, knocking an extra-powerful _Coconut Cyclone_ into two of the shadows with an impressive smack from her hammer. She stood in front of Nephrite, who’d been knocked into a building during the first round of attacks and hadn’t moved since. He wasn’t dead (she’d checked), but he’d have a helluava concussion when he woke up.

“But there should be _eight_!” Mercury exclaimed, launching an _Aqua Rhapsody_ as Saturn covered her from another attack with a _Silence Wall._

The young Senshi of Silence gritted her teeth. These things were strong. She looked up and counted. “There’s five now.” Saturn frowned. That including the two Jupiter’d just blasted chunks out of. Then the fifth disappeared too.

“They’re not just disappearing!” Mercury realized as the remaining four launched a simultaneous attack. “They’re going somewhere else.”

“ _Moon Freezing Heartache!_ ” Chibi Moon shouted, evaporating the attack in mid-air.

“ _Starlight Healing Therapy Kiss!”_ Sailor Moon’s attack hit two of the remaining shadows while the others darted away. Splinters of Sailor Crystals plinked against the asphalt as the five of them jumped away from another attack.

“There’s another attack 5.6 kilometers from here,” Mercury added. “Near,” she gasped. The next attack caught her off guard. Jupiter tackled them both out of the way as Sailor Saturn and Chibi Moon reduced the second-to-last of their attackers to dust in a tag-teamed effort.

“Where’s the other attack?” Jupiter shouted.

“ _The Shrine!”_

The five Sailors’ eyes widened and Sailor Moon twirled her Moon sceptre into an attack position. She was almost ready to launch another _Therapy Kiss_. If only the damn attack didn’t take so long to re-charge.

“They’ve been distracting us,” Mercury continued, as she and Jupiter combined their powers to parry the next blast. Even amid the fast-pace of the battle, part of her mind was still worrying over how strong these shadows really were, and what that might say about future attacks if these were just their first foes. Even enemies knew you sent your pawns well before your knights and bishops.

 _And certainly long before the Queen_ …

Just then, the remaining shadow glowed bright yellow and split once more, into five. One shadow for each of them that split off in different directions.

“We need to finish this quickly,” Sailor Moon shouted.

“We’ve got to corral them back together!” Mercury exclaimed. “Saturn, Chibi Moon, take the left. Jupiter,”

“The right,” Jupiter shouted, already in position.

“Sailor Moon,” Mercury said. “Can you take all five of them in one attack.”

Sailor Moon nodded and raised her sceptre. “Let’s do this.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Neptune shouted as the twin blasts from two shadows exploded right through _Space Sword Blaster._ She knocked Uranus out of the way, as the attacks hit between her shoulders, sending the both of them tumbling across Hikawa’s grounds.

“There just keep being more of them,” Uranus gritted her teeth as she rolled them over, deflecting the next attack off the Space Sword. All it did was knock the weapon out of her hand.

 _“Dead Scream!_ ” Pluto shouted as she ran in front of them. Her attacks could at least match the shadows’ for power. The bright maroon attack exploded along with the next energy blast sending a shock wave across the grounds.

They’d managed, with Mars, to take down three of the originals so far, though not the fourth, which had split into a further five shadows, or the five who had appeared mid-battle, out of thin air.

_“Deep Submerge”_

_“World Shaking!”_

_“Dead Scream!”_

Their attacks merged as they rocketed through the air, striking one of the remaining shadows. The human scream it emitted sent chills racing up Uranus spine as a dull shard of crystal plinked against the ground.

She tried not to think of what that crystal was as _Flame Sniper_ tore a hole in one of the remaining nine, and the three of them jumped out of the way of a counter attack. Uranus saw Mars dive away from another blast and shout as it hit her ankle accompanied by a _snap_. Mars got to her feet though, gritting her teeth, more fire already in her hands.

She was panting. Her face was red and bore more scratches than her arms and legs. The shadows had been dividing the four of them as much as possible since they’d come to assist Mars, and even as they slowly cut the shadows’ number down, the fight was taking its toll.

“They’ve still got trouble at the TV Tower,” Neptune said behind her. Uranus nodded. They wouldn’t distract the others yet, not if they were facing a similar fight.

Just then the shadows overhead froze and flew higher, glowing many colors as more dark blasts gathered in front of them. Uranus summoned her sword back.

“Get ready,” she shouted to the other three.

She was preparing a _Space Sword Blaster_ to parry the next attack when she realized two things.

The shadows attacks weren’t aiming for them.

And she hadn’t been the first to notice.

“ _MARS!”_ Neptune shouted, but Sailor Mars had already sprinted across Hikawa’s grounds, leaping into the air to cover a group of photographers who were cowering on the Shrine’s roof. _Space Sword Blaster_ and _Dead Scream_ didn’t hit the shadows until after they’d already launched nine, simultaneous blasts. The dark energy evaporated Mars fireball into nothing but smoke as it raced on and hit Mars in the chest. The three outer senshi stared as Mars body froze mid-air, seizing as the energy spread through her, enveloping her in darkness.

Neptune’s next attack missed as the nine remaining shadows converged on Mars, enveloping her in a cyclone. The wind across Hikawa’s grounds picked up and knocked the three of them back. The shadows spun around Mars faster, and faster. Uranus caught her gaze as she struggled in the dark spiral. Mars eyes widened. She held out her black-coated hand in a stop gesture. Uranus raised the Space Sword.

An orange blur raced past her.

“ _VENUS STOP!_ ” Mars screamed over the roar of the shadows’ cyclone. Uranus sprinted towards Venus as the wind and the roar picked up, dropping the Space Sword and diving towards her. She caught the younger senshi around the waist just as she prepared to jump towards Mars and dragged the both of them down to the ground.

“ _LET ME GO!”_ Venus shouted over the whipping wind. The shadows had completely covered Mars now. Venus kicked Uranus in the shins, elbowed her the ribs, and scrambled out of her grip. Uranus dived for her again, helped this time as Artemis appeared, in his human form, and cinched both his large arms around Venus shoulders. They held her back together as she reached out both her arms towards the vortex of shadows that was getting smaller and smaller.

“ _LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!”_

_“DEAD SCREAM!”_

_“SUBMARINE VIOLIN TIDE!”_

Their attacks converged on the shrinking cyclone from all sides, and Uranus heart froze mid-beat as the shadows teleported away mere moments before the attacks crashed together in an explosion of blue, red, and orange power.

Sailor Venus crumpled in she and Artemis’ arms.

“ _REI!”_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Venus had not stopped pacing since they’d teleported into Lunar command and met Moon and the others there, exhausted from their fight at the TV tower, which now seemed a hollow victory.

“Her picture’s been in the paper all week, and the shrine,” Jupiter was saying as Mercury, Luna, Artemis, Saturn, and Pluto scanned a monitor each – all five and even the Mercury computer focused solely on scanning for Mars energy signature. The room was growing tenser by the second as the computer’s instruments scanned farther and farther out from Earth’s orbit.

Pluto could not see her at all. Mars future, bizarrely, was fine. Her present though…

“It’s this enemy,” Pluto said. “I haven’t seen any of its movements since it appeared, it probably means I can’t see it in linear space either. It is completely devoid of a connection to time.”

It was not a comforting explanation. Venus paused in her pacing as the monitors emitted a different sequence of beeps. But they’d only shifted to another quadrant of space. She fisted both hands in her hair and resumed her trek across the room.

“We’ll find her,” Artemis said as his four legs easily kept pace with her. Venus glared down at him.

“ _We wouldn’t have to if you hadn’t held me back!_ ” she seethed.

“We would,” Uranus countered, she was mirroring Jupiter’s pose – leaning against a column with her head bowed towards the floor. “All that would’ve change is you’d have been taken too _._ ”

Venus was about to snap back at her that _then_ at least she’d be _with_ Mars when the monitors erupted in a frenzy of sounds and the screen of the Mercury computer flashed bright blue. Mercury opened her visor and her eyes moved rapidly to the left and right as she read the information appearing on its screen.

“Got her,” Mercury said. The nine of them joined hands in the centre of the room.

“Be careful,” a groggy Nephrite told Jupiter.

“I’ll try,” Jupiter nodded to him, her new hammer tied round her waist. “No promises.”

“Everyone ready?” Sailor Moon asked. She closed her eyes as they all nodded in unison. Her crescent mark and their tiaras began to glow.

“ _Sailor TELEPORT!”_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

They appeared several thousand kilometres out from Earth’s orbit, into a cluster of bright, multicolored lights who shot off a volley of energy blasts in a blinding array of colors the instant the Senshi materialized. The blasts of energy exploded in the middle of their circle, breaking their grip on each other’s hands as a shockwave of cold raced through them.

 _They’re like sunspots_ , Mercury realized as she and Neptune combined their attacks, freezing a cluster of the lights into immobile chunks of ice. The ice started cracking apart almost immediately. _They appear dark in real sunlight, but out here…_

Neptune and Pluto cried out suddenly amid the attacks raining on them from all sides. The Senshi all turned towards them – both of them had their hands clutched to their heads.

 _They tried to reach for Rei,_ Venus realized as Neptune raised her head out of her hands to deflect and attack with the Aqua Mirror.

“Something’s attacking her mind,” Pluto said in a strained voice. “She’s nearby…”

 _Rei…_ Venus snapped the love chain as she spun around, squinting through the surrounding sunspots. “There!” she shouted, pointing her finger. The sun’s light was shining on a sliver of rock, illuminating the outline of a hulking asteroid, its surface covered in pink and yellow ice.

“That asteroid’s made of nitrogen!” Mercury shouted as she dodged out of the way of another attack. Jupiter covered her back, beating back the next volley with her hammer. “It’s a Kuiper object.”

“Then it shouldn’t be out here,” Neptune said.

“We need to get to it!” Sailor Moon declared, turning six of their attackers to dull, crystal shards with a well-timed _Therapy Kiss_. “Everyone! Get together!”

They raced back towards each other, grabbing hands extra tightly to keep from being torn apart again. Their tiaras and Sailor Moon’s crescent began to glow as Moon and Venus led their voices.

“ _SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!_ ”

They glowed the bright, rainbow of their combined powers. The circle of nine senshi punched through the blockade of sunspots. They soared up to the asteroid, zeroing in on the flares of red coming from its dark side.

“ _REI!”_ Venus shouted as they broke formation. Nine pairs of white boots skidded on the asteroid’s icy surface. They all looked towards the red flares of light and gasped. Venus screamed.

Wrapped around the flares of Mars brilliant, red, power, were the massive coils of a giant, black snake. Its form was so dark it blended with the surrounding space, visible only thanks to the multi-coloured lights that shone out from each band of its body. Every color visible to the eye blazed forth from a plethora of symbols that covered the length of the snake. There was no rhyme, nor reason to them – all varying patterns, shapes, sizes, colours...

 _Could those be sailor symbols?_ Mercury wondered, covering her ears as the snake screeched. Its head swivelled towards them, empty, black eye sockets lingering over Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon.

Another flare of red, weaker than the last, flared out from between the snake’s coils.

“ _REI!_ ” Venus shouted, running forwards, Moon right behind her. They screamed as they crashed into a barrier that lit up just in time for Uranus and Jupiter to skid to a halt a breath away from it. Bolts of dark energy tainted with a rainbow of stars’ colors raced through the now-visible force field. Venus, Moon, Jupiter, and Uranus threw themselves at it, attacks bursting from their weapons and their hands.

The shield rippled, but remained strong. The snake screeched again and Mercury saw the golden blast from her left just in time to swerve out of its way.

The army of sunspots had followed them, trapping them between the Snake’s barrier and the edge of the asteroid.

“We need to keep them back!” Mercury shouted. Her eyes darted to Saturn who nodded, turning away from the snake and raising the Silence Glaive in a perfectly even horizontal line high over her head.

“ _SILENCE WALL_!”

The black and purple barrier sprang up just as the sunspots let off a new volley of attacks. The multi-coloured energy blasts exploded across Saturn’s defence, and the young senshi bowed her head, teeth gritted, as she went to one knee on the icy asteroid.

 _I have to hold the line,_ she thought, glaring up at the lights.

“ _REI!”_ Venus screamed again. All of them, but Saturn whipped back around.

The snake’s coils had shifted, and through the gap in them, the scouts could see her. They cried out.

Mars was trapped in the snake’s coils: her head bowed, and her eyes staring downwards. Her arms and legs were pinned at her sides by the snake.

“ _REI!”_

Her uniform has gone to ribbons around her, the bright bands of her power entwined in the snake’s coils as the red light in them raced away from her. Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, and Moon threw themselves and their magic once more against the barrier, to little effect. Venus cried out again, and so did Saturn. Mercury whipped around. The _Silence Wall_ flickered.

_“Aqua Rhapsody!”_

_“Submarine Violin Tide”_

The combined attacks created a tidal wave that froze a cluster of the sunspots mid-attack. A _Dead Scream_ shattering them before they could crack out of the ice.

“Here!” Chibi Moon shouted, running to Saturn and putting her hands over hers on the Glaive. The gem on her tiara glowed as pink and silver magic flooded into the _Silence Wall_.

Mercury backed up, along with Neptune and Pluto, as they covered the youngest senshi, and opened her computer and her visor, trying to focus on the dark barrier and not look at Mars, who she could see was weakening even without her scans. The remains of the Martian senshi’s uniform and the symbol on her forehead were flickering, the glow around her dimming by the second.

At the barrier, Venus shouted to her team, eyes never leaving Mars. They all readied their attacks.

“ _JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!”_

_“VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!”_

_“SPACE SWORD BLASTER!”_

“ _STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!”_

Venus and Jupiter’s attacks combined and hit the barrier high overhead at the same time as Moon’s slammed into it from the other side. Uranus charged after her own attack, cleaving the Space Sword physically into the barrier as the others attacks made contact.

The screech caused by the impact accompanied a shockwave that knocked Jupiter, Venus, and Moon back and sent Uranus tumbling across the asteroid, Space Sword jerked out of her grip as it and she skidded in opposite directions across the icy surface. She only stopped spinning when Neptune broke formation, grabbing her hand and hauling her up right before she could hit the edge of the _Silence Wall_.

 _I have to use it,_ Sailor Moon’s thought drifted through her mind as Neptune released her hand. Uranus turned back towards the barrier. Moon was standing right in front of it, her hands over the brooch on her chest.

“ _WAIT!_ ” Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn shouted at the same time.

“ _She says stop_!” Neptune gasped, hands clutched to her temples. Mars voice in her head was pained, but very, very adamant. Neptune made sure Sailor Moon was looking at her. _“She says don’t let it see the crystal_.”

All of them thought of the crystal shards trapped within the sunspots outside.

“We can’t take any chances,” Pluto said as Jupiter and even Venus backed away from the barrier, covering Sailor Moon.

Moon gritted her teeth and bowed her head, but lowered her arms, the Silver Crystal still safe and dormant within the brooch at her chest.

Mars screamed, and Venus charged forwards, Jupiter and Moon just behind her. They slammed into the barrier of dark energy together, still having little effect, but to momentarily disrupt the magic that flowed through it.

Uranus clutched her right side and summoned her sword, preparing to charge forward once more, when she saw movement on her left. Pluto was raising the Garnet Rod, her mouth set in a determined line.

“Don’t!” Chibi Moon shouted as the Garnet Orb began to glow. _She’s not attempting a_ Dead Scream _,_ Uranus realized.

“ _MAMA_!” Saturn screamed, wincing along with Chibi Moon as another volley of attacks pierced into the _Silence Wall._

“If this thing really does exist outside of time,” Neptune cautioned, putting her hand over Pluto’s on the Garnet Rod. “It might not be affected by _Time Stop_ at all.”

“We have to try something,” Pluto said.

“Help us break that barrier,” Uranus ordered. Together they launched their attacks. Uranus sprinted after the merged _Dead Scream, World Shaking, Deep Submerge,_ and _Aqua Rhapsody._ She slammed into the barrier just as the attack crashed into it, alongside another, powerful _Therapy Kiss_.

The barrier merely flexed, light and dark bolts of energy fizzled across its surface, feeding energy back into the weakened areas.

Uranus hacked at the barrier with the Space Sword, hitting it in tandem with Jupiter’s hammer as, beside her, Venus screamed, slamming her whole body over and over into the impenetrable force field.

The dark energy ricocheted through Venus, causing her muscles to spasm out of control and tears to roll down her face. She screamed through the pain and continued to pound away at the barrier, _Rei, Rei, Rei._ She needed to reach her. Rei needed her. Venus pressed her entire body flush against the barrier. _Rei, Rei, Rei._

Glazed, purple eyes met hers.

Venus froze – a shock traveling through her as a spark of someone else’s power brushed against her mind.

 _I love you…_ Rei’s thought-voice was weak and strained as it reached for her, in the only psychic link they’d ever formed. And before she’d fully grasped what Rei had done, it began to fade.

 _“NO!”_ Venus concentrated on the spark, grasping for it, chasing it, back towards Rei whose eyes had just rolled back in her head.

The eight other senshi cried out as the snake screeched and Mars screamed. They watched, paralyzed, as the red ribbons around her rushed into the snake. The Martian symbol faded from her forehead. They gasped. The Martian symbol now blazed between the Snake’s black eye sockets.

Pluto whipped the Garnet Rod over her head “Time St –” but she was cut off, mid attack, as a blinding orange light exploded near the barrier, accompanied by a scream.

“ _AREISA!”_

The smell of sulphur filled the space around them as bright orange light exploded forth from Venus equally-glowing hands. The wave of acid washed over the barrier, disintegrating it. Jupiter, Moon, and Uranus stumbling back as Venus charged forwards, her Sailor symbol glowing brightly on her forehead as the same orange filled her eyes, her hair, her hands, and enveloped her whole body in power.

The giant snake shrieked as the bright guardian slammed into its coils, tearing the nearly-bonded red one free of its grip. The guardian’s orange and white uniform glowed with an intensity that burned it just as Sol’s light did. And then the guardian’s uniform changed, transforming into loose orange pants, a halter top, and bronze accoutrements that blazed with the bright orange light searing forth from her eyes, hair, and forehead. The guardian raised her left hand, right shielding the red one from its gaze.

“ _PASSIONATE VENGENCE!”_ the guardian whispered. The bright orange power burst from her open palm. It screeched as the first flecks of acid stung its coils.

This guardian was stronger than it had thought. It tried to bind itself back into the asteroid but could not, its energy already too entangled with the red guardian’s.

It needed to regroup.

“ _STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!”_ the bright, pink and silver light raced towards it from the right, but it had already torn a new hole in space. It escaped through the tear, out of the material realm, commanding its captured lights to follow.

The senshi shielded their eyes as the combined attacks of Moon and Venus turned the asteroid into dust. They looked around. All the sunspots had vanished along with the snake.

Saturn gasped and collapsed onto Chibi Moon as she dropped the _Silence Wall_ at last. Neptune, Pluto, and Mercury rushed towards them.

And they all stared – as Jupiter, Uranus, and Moon stared – at the still glowing Princess of Venus who clutched Rei tightly in her arms.

“Areisa,” she murmured, her eyes, too, still flooded with her orange power. “Areisa, _Wake up!”_

Sailor Moon stepped forwards, stretching out her hand.

“Aphrodite…” she whispered.

Aphrodite’s head snapped up and she stared at Sailor Moon with wide eyes, shaking her head. That was Serenity? That couldn’t be Serenity. Serenity was _dead. And she’s never_ _had a senshi form_. She took in the other Senshi. All their uniforms were so… different.

“Who are you?” she whispered and glanced down at Areisa again. Her forehead was bare – no sign of the beautiful, Martian symbol.

 _Where’s the Moon Kingdom? Where’re the Generals?_ Her hand drifted down to her torso, feeling only smooth skin where Kunzite’s sword had, seemingly moments ago, run her through.

“Aphrodite, wait,” Serenity’s strange, senshi look-alike flew towards her, but Aphrodite turned away. It could be a trick. She clutched Areisa closer. Her power was so weak…

 _I need to get her safe_ , Aphrodite thought, eyes catching sight of the bright, orange light of her home, which shone even brighter than Sol. It was as though it was calling for her.

The scouts gasped as Aphrodite glowed again, pale yellow wings, like a butterfly’s, unfolded from her back.

And in a breath, she had shot off, towards the sun, towards the inner worlds, appearing like a bright orange comet soaring through the sky.

_~Á Suivre~_


	9. Aphrodite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silmil flashback II: Aphrodite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So you remember Serenity’s was long… Aphrodite needed her own novella… this was fun to write. She spent more time as a five-year-old than I wanted since a lot of stuff apparently happened that year (like Act 48 of the Manga…). Don’t worry, she’s a very perceptive five-year-old. So she’ll feel like she’s paying much more attention than five-year-old Serenity was. She’ll have to with the ability I’ve given her…  
> And I’m excited for it. Thanks to Aphrodite, I get to expand on a confrontation that I truly wish the manga had done more with.  
> New Readers: Heads up, you’re about to be a little confused by the title of a character from Sailor Jupiter’s flashback. But PAX LUNAE readers: you’re in for a treat (sort of); someone you’re all very familiar with will be making her first formal Age of Aquarius appearance… (also I apologize in advance, you will need tissues)…
> 
> Disclaimer: Once upon a time, copyright law was reasonable. Then Disney started lobbying to keep things in copyright longer. So this will, for the foreseeable future, not be mine. Hence, I disclaim all notions that I profit off this… BUT the idea is still mine: plot-wise, lore-wise… the characters and referenced canon are, however, not mine…

**Aphrodite**

Every night, as she ran the soft brush through her long hair, Mother would tell her the story…

“ _Once upon a time, in a land by the sea, there was a Queen who lived in a beautiful palace surrounded by beautiful shells. She ran her Kingdom well and had King who treated her fairly and she had everything anyone in the highest caste could ever dream of wanting._

_“Except for a child. The Queen wanted one more than anything – and so did the King. So the Queen went down to the Boiling Sea, where it was told in the ancient stories that miracles could happen. And she spoke to the Goddess, and the Planet Venus”_

“ _Lady_ Venus _,”_ she’d sometimes interrupt. Planet was a boring title. Lady suited Venus much, much better.

“Oh, thank you for correcting me, yes:”

 _“The Queen spoke to the Goddess and to Lady Venus. And she asked them if there was anyway – any at all – that she could have a child of her own_.

“ _And she went and she asked every day for 77 days. And then, on the last day, a golden comet soared through the sky while she was praying by the sea, and it crashed right into the boiling water. And then as she watched the Holy Geyser sprayed high into the sky, glowing bronze. And she watched the water turn from bronze to the bright orange of a sunset, and all the topez shells that circle the geyser float up all around it._ ”

“And then,”

_“And then, the orange light shot up above the clouds and she heard all the movement of the morning stop. Everyone turned to look._

_“And in the silence, she heard a baby’s cry.”_

“That was me!”

“I’m getting there,” Mother would chuckle.

_“So the Queen waited on the docks and watched as the orange light faded and the sun rose up high above the sea. And she saw a great big shell breach the surface, and the whole top of it pop off. And when it reached the docks she peered inside and gasped cause guess what she found?”_

“Me!”

“Mhmm.”

_“She found a baby girl with hair like the purest gold and eyes as blue as the skies on the clearest night. And she had the mark of Lady Venus on her forehead, and so the Queen knew right away this girl was very, very special – for she would be the Guardian one day._

_“And so the Queen picked up the little girl and knew that she was the answer to her prayers. And since she was the most beautiful child on the whole world, she decided to name her Aphrodite.”_

“And Aphrodite,” Mama would always add after kissing her head. “Is the best daughter I could ever want.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Planets don’t have favorite things,” Father scoffed at dinner when she told him so in between a mouthful of scallops.

“Of course she has favorites,” Aphrodite insisted

“Alright,” Father said, raising one of his dark eyebrows. “What’s its favorite animal then?” his voice boomed out one of his big laughs. “Humans?”

Aphrodite frowned. “ _No_. It’s horses,” she told Father matter-a-factly. “She _used_ to like the phoenixes, but,” she shrugged. “Lady said we don’t have those anymore. Why not?”

“They went extinct of course,” Father shrugged.

“What’s that mean”

“It means,” Mother said, leaning across the table to put more fish on Aphrodite’s plate. “That they don’t live here anymore. And there’s no new ones of them.”

“Oh...” Aphrodite frowned. “Why’d they move away?”

“Cause they weren’t well suited to the planet,” Zeus said. “Silly things – we had them when I was young. They never could pick a good spot to build a nest.”

“Oh,” Aphrodite looked down at her plate, feeling suddenly like the time one of the page boys had broken her favorite shell… except she felt as though some one had broken a whole lot more of her favorite shells.

“Now why’s she angry?” her father asked.

“Aphrodite?” her mother asked.

“I feel angry,” she said slowly, they always told her to explain _slowly_. “About the birds,” she said. “But _I_ don’t.” she’d felt like this before sometimes: when Nanny yelled at her, or when Father yelled at the servants. She felt other things too. Like when it hadn’t rained in a month and a big storm had dumped a whole palace worth of rain on the ground: she’d felt so clean. But not _her-her._ Just… “It’s like I’m angry…and I know why.” Aphrodite said. “But I don’t know… where it’s coming from.”

Her father raised his eyebrow at her. “Another strange guardian thing then.”

“ _ZEUS_!” Mother shrieked.

“Well it is strange.” Father said, cutting into his steak. He waved the slab of meat at Aphrodite. “There’s a simple solution here: If you’re not really angry, don’t be angry.”

“But… but I feel it.”

“Anger,” Father said. “Is a bad thing to feel.” He stared at her with his dark-gold eyes “Especially for a high-caste girl like yourself. You’ll never get anywhere in life letting your emotions run ragged.”

She suddenly felt angry _again._ A different angry. Not like broken-shells angry, more like when the duke’s daughter had told Aphrodite she couldn’t have anymore candy and then proceeded to eat all of it herself.

“Don’t look at me like that, Dione,” Father told her Mother.

“I just wonder sometimes if you can hear yourself talk,” Mother told Father back.

Father slammed his fist into the table and knocked over his chair as he stood up.

Aphrodite felt her face growing hot and her body getting tense like she was about to throw a fit over a broken toy or no dessert but there was no broken toy and she’d been promised dessert and she shouldn’t have felt so angry…

“I have _never_ ,” Father said in a calm, cold voice “let my emotions interfere with the ruling of –”

“ _STOP!”_ Aphrodite said standing on her chair. “You’re making me angry!”

“ _Why_?” Her father snapped and paused, looking her up and down. “We make you angry?”

She sniffed. “Yes,” it was going away now. She slumped down in her chair. Anger made her _so_ tired.

“Interesting…” her father muttered. “Well anyways – you should practice conducting yourself in a genial fashion regardless of how else you want to feel.”

“So… I can’t feel sad? Or happy? Or silly? Or scardy?”

Father groaned and held up a hand. “What have I said about questions?”

“Dear,” Mother said. “Why don’t I… explain to her?”

“She is your daughter,” Father mumbled.

Later that night, brushing out her hair (which had grown a whole three inches since the summer ended) Mother explained.

“We are the highest class,” she said to Aphrodite. “That’s supposed to mean we are ‘above’ reacting to certain emotions. The thought is that things like fear and anger and even love cloud our judgement.”

“Even love?”

“Mhmm,” her mother sighed. “I understand – I didn’t grow up in this caste. It is still hard for me.” She finished the braid. “You can feel whatever you feel, Dite,” she promised. “But you’ve got to make sure no one can ever tell.”

 _Is she right?_ Aphrodite asked Lady.

 _I know only what you do about human customs, My Guardian._ Lady answered. _I do not feel as you feel. And when I need to express myself, I have no means of suppression. My volcanoes erupt as my needs dictate and my earthquakes shake your surface as I feel fit._

 _Maybe it’s different for people_ , Aphrodite sighed.

“Now,” Mother said. “What was this about feelings that are not your own?”

Aphrodite frowned and looked at her feet, kicking her legs against the chair. “Like… Me-me feels tired. And confuu-fuu –”

“Confused.”

“Yeah,” Aphrodite pulled away from Mother, half finished braid hanging over her left shoulder. “But… _Not-me_ feels… nervous. Now. And worried… and warm, and happy. How can you be worried _and_ happy _and…_ just now I feel like… surprised. Bad surprised – like… like your face looks!” she decided, pointing at mother. “ _That_ kind of surprised.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Being five meant a lot of good things. The Most good of them was that she knew how to get Father to agree to lots more things – like extra dessert and shorter skirts to play in and even time all by herself to wander the beach (since she had finally learned to swim!)

“Go make friends,” Mama encouraged her every day when she ran out of the palace. She’d point out one of the groups of kids – all older – who also came down to the beach every day. They always played a ways away from the palace.

Aphrodite tried for a little while to talk to them, but as spring approached, she lost interest in the effort. The kids never wanted to play with her. Sometimes they walked away as she approached. Sometimes they said she was too small. Some of them though, wouldn’t let her play for other reasons.

“You’re the guardian?” an older topaz boy in the group she’d asked to play said. “You don’t look Venesien.”

“That’s cause I came from the sea,” Aphrodite said. “But I am the Guardian – see.” She pushed back her hair and showed them the orange symbol on her brow.

“Weird,” the topaz kid said. He put his hands on his hips. “Well I’m a Topaz, and I don’t believe you.”

“But,” Aphrodite floundered. “But it’s true. Mother said it’s true.”

“Well Father doesn’t believe her,” the kid said, glaring his grumpy magenta eyes down at her. “He said if the planet had really made you by itself you’d look like Venesiens are supposed to look.” He pointed to her nose. “You’re skin burns in the sun for Goddess sake. If you’re a Venesien then Granite-caste over there,” he nodded to the quiet girl several feet from him. “Gets to be the next Queen.”

The other kids chuckled.

“And what’s up with these things?” another kid asked, stepping forward and poking her over the yellow birthmarks on her shoulder blades. “Those aren’t Guardian symbols.”

“Mama said they look pretty!” Aphrodite defended, pulling the hem of her dress up higher to cover them and wishing her long hair was free of its high braid.

“No, just weird.” The topaz boy laughed and turned away from her. “We don’t play with weirdos.”

“But – I’m the princess!”

They all laughed then. And the topaz boy had continued.

“Now you are,” he’d taunted. “Wait until the King finds a wife who can actually have kids and you’ll be just another weirdo Peat-head out on the street.”

“But, but,”

“Get lost,” he said. And then they kicked the sand at her.

She didn’t want to play even by herself after that. So she slumped down at the end of the jetty and put both hands on her cheeks, staring at the green water of the Boiling Sea. Very far off, she saw the Holy Geyser erupt.

 _Why so sad, my little star,_ Lady Venus asked.

“Why didn’t you make me look like Venesiens?” Aphrodite asked her. “Everyone says I’m not a real one.”

 _Because they do not know the truth of things_ , Lady said. _It matters not what you look like_.

“And what’s a ‘Peat-head’?”

 _A human term,_ Lady said. _I know not how they distinguish one._

She sniffed. “Why were they mean to me?” she asked, taking her hands away from her face and reaching out to pick up a crab before the waves could crack it against the rocks.

 _Some people hurt others_ , Lady said. _Just as people and other beings sometimes hurt me._

“Then why do I have to look so different?”

 _You are different because I made you_ , Lady said simply. _I and the magic that crashed into me that day._

“The… comet?” Aphrodite asked. She’d never cared especially about that part of Mother’s story.

 _Twas not a comet._ Lady scoffed. _Twas magic like my own. You look like it – but inside_ , _inside you are like me._

Aphrodite beamed and skimmed her hands through the water, she watched her reflection then and sighed. “But the kids will still tease me.”

 _As they will tease anyone they consider different than themselves,_ Lady said. _Just as I can hear those children you met doing right now_.

“What?” Aphrodite asked.

The kids laughter carried over the Boiling Sea and with it the sounds of someone…or maybe more than one someone…crying.

She stood up on the jetty. There they were – their dark hair stood out even as far as they were from the Palace. She jumped into the water. Lady assuring her the current would help her stay on course as she swam very fast to a stretch of beach very, very far from the palace.

When she emerged from the water they didn’t notice her, but she could see them.

“Get off the beach!” the topaz boy shouted, along with the other kids in the group.

But clearly that was a dumb thing to shout because the kids had surrounded the two they were yelling at – both of them were kids too and one was as young as Aphrodite. They were Peat caste. She could tell now – They all wore the same grey. She saw them kick sand at the two Peat kids, and they couldn’t stop it like she had. One of them fell and screamed when it got in their eyes and all the kids around them laughed. She saw the topaz boy pull back his foot.

“ _Stop!_ ” she shouted, charging out of the surf and pushing into the middle of the circle. She got between the topaz boy and the two kids just in time for him to kick her in the stomach. She fell into the sand, shouting as it scrapped her elbows and all the other kids gasped.

But not the topaz boy. He felt excited. And mean-happy. Like it made him smile to see her fall. “Well what do you know,” he chuckled, stepping forward and raising his fist. “Standing up for Peat kids _and_ she can’t even take a hit.” She stood up and blocked both the other kids with her arms. She didn’t care if Father said Topazes never did anything wrong. This was _definitely_ wrong. “So you’re not a good Topaz _or_ a good Guardian.” He swung his fist and she flinched, but he held back the punch at the last second. “Psyche!” he cried as the other kids laughed. His magenta eyes glared at her. “Move Peat-head,” he told her. “Unless you want me to hit you like I was gonna hit them.”

“You shouldn’t hit them,” she said, keeping her arms wide to cover the two kids still on the ground. “It’s wrong.”

“Is not,” he sneered. “They’re Peat-heads. They’re not allowed on the beach and they know it.”

“You can’t hit them.”

“You gonna stop me?” he taunted.

“Yeah!” she said. But the nerves were starting to set in. What if he really was right? He’d been a Topaz longer than her.

 _Trust yourself_ , Lady said. _My Guardian is always right._

She still didn’t know much about what being a guardian meant. But she knew this was wrong.

“Last chance,” the boy said. She closed her eyes as he pulled back his fist again. She wasn’t gonna flinch. She concentrated on Lady’s heart, thrumming deep beneath the Boiling Sea, and felt her own sync up with it.

As the boy threw his punch, she suddenly felt Lady Venus power flare up within her, and the Venesien symbol on her forehead grew hot as orange light flooded her vision.

“ _Venus Power!_ ” she and Lady shouted together.

It was suddenly as if everything was as bright as the sun and as hot as it too! She felt the Boiling Sea water crash against her torso and the sulphur clouds in the highest layer of the atmosphere circle around her.

For a moment, it almost seemed like Lady was holding her, just as Mama did when she used to rock her to sleep.

And then all the light had faded and the Topaz boy was on the ground, scrambling away from her as the other kids ran – even the two she had rescued. She bounced on the toes of her bright orange flats and clapped her white gloved hands together – taking everything in: her orange skirt and the dark blue bow in the front – a colour she’d only ever seen in the mirror – and the yellow bow behind her and the tiara that was gold with an orange gem when she leaned over to look in the water.

“I did it,” she whispered. Then she began jumping up and down and shrieking as she threw both hands into the air. “IdiditIdiditIdidit!”

 _Of course you did_ , Lady said. _It was your destiny_. Lady felt so proud.

She needed to show Mother. She even needed to show Father. She needed to show her afternoon Nanny too. She’d never be able to say that Aphrodite was too messy to be the Guardian now!

She swam faster than she had ever swum back to the jetty and ran up the palace steps, stopping at the throne room doors and taking a deep breath before knocking.

“Merchants Audience does not end for another fifteen minutes!” the annoyed doorman said from the other said.

“But I’m the Guardian!” she said. “I transformed! I wanna show Mother and Father. _Pleeeease_.” _Maybe if I can transform, Father will like me_!

The doorman let her in and she only remembered her manners _after_ she’d skidded all the way across the throne room and to the edge of the dais where her parents sat. Father felt stunned. Mama felt stunned in a good way. Aphrodite bowed to them and then straightened, sweeping her long golden hair behind her and putting both hands on her hips.

“I’m Sailor Venus!” she announced. “Guardian of Love and Beauty.”

She expected cheers. She looked all around. The emotions of all the merchants present suddenly shifted from stunned to a whole meelee of others: surprise, and fear, and lots of confusion.

Including from her father.

He looked at his squire.

“Send for the Mother Priestess,” he told them. “And get a message to the Moon Kingdom.” He raised an eyebrow at Aphrodite. “The Guardian of Love and Beauty aye. Where did that come from?”

She frowned and pointed at her heart. “In here…” she whispered.

Why was that not right? She thought it was right. _Lady_ thought it was right.

 _Did I do it wrong_? She thought as Mother congratulated her and ushered her out of the throne room.

She didn’t hear her father’s conversation with the Priestess. But she did hear from Mother later.

“Your uniform just didn’t look like they expected,” she explained as she passed Aphrodite a handkerchief. In the time since she’d de-transformed, she’d started sniffling. A sure sigh she’d have to stay in bed sick all day before she knew it. “In the past Venus colours have been described as dark orange and bronze, and her bow has usually been magenta.”

“What about Love and Beauty?”

Mother sighed. “That was… different too.” She looked at Aphrodite. “All the records say that Sailor Venus has always declared herself the guardian of Fairness and Fortune.”

“So… so I was wrong?”

“No sweetie,” Mother insisted. “These things – they can change.” She looked out at the sea and then shook her head. “You’re full of surprises Aphrodite. None of them are bad. Some of them are just more surprising than the others.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The envoy from the Moon Kingdom arrived the next day, and Aphrodite wanted very, very badly to run down the beach to meet them. But Father was there and Father’d already told her it didn’t befit an heir of Venus to frolic across the beach. And he’d also been feeling very smug all morning. And Mother very nervous.

“I’m very eager to see what she’ll say, is all,” Father’d said when she’d hesitantly asked. “About you’re… interesting changes to the Guardianship.”

At last the big white carriage pulled by (she gasped) two grey unicorns rolled across the edge of the beach – the wheels and the unicorns hooves sending iridescent droplets spraying out across the Boiling Sea. She lined up right in front of her Father and Mother and made sure the strange orange skirt of her new sailor uniform was just so and then bowed as the doors of the carriage swung open to the sound of trumpets.

“Announcing Her Magesty – Hippolyte of The Moon Kingdom”

She wasn’t supposed to stop bowing yet, but Aphrodite really wanted to see. She tilted her head so she could peek through the curtain of her hair.

The Queen was _beautiful._ She leapt out of the carriage and onto the sand in a sleevless tunic that was an amazingly dark color of green that Aphrodite’d never seen before, and was wearing not a skirt, but pants (Queens could wear _pants_ ) as black as coal and tucked into grey boots that looked soft and comfy and were nearly as tall as the Queen’s knees. Aphrodite couldn’t help herself as she raised her head to see better. This lady looked nothing like Mother. She barely wore any jewellery at all – save the pink flowers in her ears and the one on her necklace that stood out against her rich, green shirt. If it weren’t for the crown sitting atop her very curly, dark hair shimmering as the red and pink gems in it caught the sunlight, Aphrodite never would have guessed she was a Queen.

“Good Morning,” the foreign Queen’s low voice greeted them warmly as she walked up to them. She was so _tall_. Queen Hippolyte nodded down at Father. “King Zeus,” and Mother, “Queen Dione,” she addressed them. “Serenity sends her apologies. She’s,” the Queen was beaming. She felt as happy as Mother felt whenever she told Aphrodite how she’d found her. “Un-fit to travel at the moment.”

“Oh we’d never expect her to travel so far in that state,” Mother rushed to say. “Though when your response said an appropriate dignitary was coming we certainly didn’t suppose it would be _you._ ” And Mother bowed again. “Forgive me, we hadn’t thought to prepare an appropriate State Dinner.”

“That’s alright,” the Queen smiled. She felt quite embarrassed. And a little confused. Finally: someone else who didn’t understand why the special silverware was important. “I apologize for the confusion. I should have had Luna specify – oh but where are my own manners,” and then she looked at Aphrodite and _bowed_. “Sailor Venus,” she was grinning. She bent down so Venus and she were the same height. “I see you’ve learned how to transform.”

“Uhuh,” Hippolyte didn’t _feel_ like she was going to tell Aphrodite she’d done it wrong, as everyone else had. In fact she felt excited. “Y-yesterday.”

“Bravo,” Hippolyte said. “My niece didn’t manage until she was six.”

“Well perhaps Aphrodite should have waited too,” Father told Queen Hippolyte. “As you can see she has appeared a bit differently than expected.”

“Well then I suppose her powers are as mysterious as the rest of her,” Hippolyte declared. She considered Aphrodite. “Have you tried to use your powers yet?”

“No. _Can I?_ ”

“Certainly!” Hippolyte grinned. “That’s as good a thing as any to start with.” She gestured down the beach. “Where’s the best place to play?”

“We have duelling ya –” her Father began to say. But Aphrodite cut him off.

“The Jetty!” she announced.

“Then let’s walk there.”

Father opted not to come, saying he and Mother had things to prepare if they had a _Queen_ visiting. Hippolyte insisted it wasn’t important and insisted they call her Hippolyte, but Mother and Father felt absolutely shocked and declared that decorum was always important or something like that. Which was fine. That meant it could be just Venus and Hippolyte, who was very happy to see her and very happy to hear anything she had to say. Sailor Venus talked at her all the way down to the jetty, talking faster than Mother said was intelligible, but she was too excited! That was okay, surely. Finally: one person who had seen her cool transformation and _not_ thought it was strange and not thought she was strange.

“Does anyone in The Moon Kingdom have gold hair?” Aphrodite asked.

“Blond hair,” Hippolyte said. “That’s what hair like yours is called.” She smiled. “They have it on lots of worlds.”

“How come I have it?”

“Well,” Hippolyte said. “I don’t actually know.” She looked out towards the geyser in the middle of the Boiling Sea. Lady’d been filling it with bright orange water droplets since she’d transformed. “Mysteries always surround the Guardians, Sailor Venus,” she said. “And solving them is often a rewarding endeavour in and of itself.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means there’s lots about you we don’t know. But that’s okay,” she grinned. “The fun is in finding out.”

Aphrodite pouted. “But I wanna know!” then she froze. She’d just whined at someone really important. “Sorry!”

Hippolyte chuckled. “You and I,” she said as they turned towards the edge of the sea and towards the jetty that broke through the surf. “Are very a like, you know.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm,” Hippolyte walked up onto the rocks as easily as Aphrodite. her afternoon nanny always tripped. Then again, Afternoon Nanny always wore very long skirts. _I’m gonna be a Queen that wears pants_. Aphrodite decided. _Pants look more fun_. But she focused again, back on what Hippolyte was saying.

“We both want the answers rather than the questions,” Hippolyte began. “And traditions are things we sometimes don’t see the point of… tell me if I’m wrong.”

Traditions… like wearing skirts, and using different plates and different foods for different guests, and hitting clams four times with your fork before you ate them. “You’re right,” Aphrodite said.

“And we both can’t sit still,” Hippolyte chuckled as Aphrodite realized she’d been bouncing up and down again.

“Everyone always tells me to sit still.”

“Well sometimes everyone forgets what its like to have things to do,” Hippolyte retorted. Aphrodite giggled. She liked this Queen.

They had reached the end of the jetty now, and Queen Hippolyte hummed. “You need something to hit,” she decided. And she walked around the rocks at the very end of the jetty, toing them with her foot until she found one the size of Aphrodite’s head that came loose. She placed it upright at the end of the rocks and then walked back to Aphrodite.

“Now, lets see what these Sailor powers of yours can do,” she said.

“What if I do it wrong?”

Hippolyte felt angry for just a second as she looked back towards the palace. “You can’t do your powers wrong, Sailor Venus,” she said, still smiling. “No matter how different some people find them.”

Then her anger was gone and she was pointing at the rock again. “There are books with spells other Sailors have used,” she began. “But I want to see if you can think of one on your own.”

“How?”

“Well,” Hippolyte said. “Think of a few words you think sound good together – they’ll probably be the right ones.”

“Oh, like how Lady taught me to find the transformation,” Venus nodded, immediately picking up Hippolyte’s confusion as she explained. “Lady’s my imaginary…” She bit her lip. Mother _did_ say to tell everyone that, but… but…

“Friend?” Hippolyte guessed. That was what she was always, always _, always_ supposed to say.

“Lady’s the planet,” Aphrodite blurted out. She crossed her fingers. Surely she could tell _this_ person.

“Oh – so she is a lady then? Are all planets ladies?” Hippolyte seemed… curious… and amused. Was she making fun of her?”

“Um…” she listened to Lady’s response. “Lady doesn’t know,”

“Hmm, a shame,” Hippolyte said. “I’d have liked another thing to tease my brother about.”

“You… believe… me.”

“It’s hardly the strangest thing anyone’s ever said to me – far less the strangest thing a _guardian_ ’s ever said to me,” Hippolyte reassured her. “But we’re both getting side-tracked.” She gestured towards the rock again. “Lets see what you’ve got, Sailor Venus.”

 _Sailor Venus_ she liked the sound of that more and more the more Hippolyte said it. It was really cool to share Lady’s name.

She faced the rock and held both hands up.

She was the Guardian of Love and Beauty. Everyone else thought that was strange, but it felt just right to her.

 _Start with love,_ she decided. She kissed her right hand for good luck and then curled it into a fist like she had a long weapon to throw at the rock a few feet away. “ _Venus Love Strike!”_

Something long and orange like a rope arced up over her head and slammed into the rock, cleaving it clean in two.

Hippolyte was clapping. “Very nice!” she cheered.

Sailor Venus gaped and looked at her hand. It was empty.

“That looked like a chain,” Hippolyte observed.

“Where’d it go?”

“Another mystery I cannot answer for you,” the Queen chuckled. “Come on now, see if you can do it again… from _farther_ back this time…”

They spend a long, long time hitting the rocks with the chain attack. And Aphrodite could even hold it for a few seconds before it went poof if she really concentrated. Hippolyte also had her run on the beach, throw punches at the rocks, and see if she could kick. And then jump. And then jump and kick. She’d been in the middle of jumping just _one more_ time to see if she could leap up onto one of the palace towers when she felt all the energy rush out of her and, in a flash of orange, she was back in her normal dress. She nearly crashed into the beach except the Queen caught her first.

“Gotcha,” Hippolyte grinned, setting her on her feet. Then Hippolyte felt surprised all of a sudden and she tilted her head at Aphrodite. “Could you turn around for me, Princess Aphrodite?”

She did, twirling her skirt as she moved. Queen Hippolyte crouched down and Aphrodite turned to look at her. She still felt surprised. She moved Aphrodite’s blond hair – freed of the braids Mother put it in everyday – aside. Then she pointed to Aphrodite’s shoulder blades – right where her yellow birthmarks were.

“Have you always had these?” she asked.

“Um, yeah.” Aphrodite said, pulling her hair back, glad it had stayed free of the braids so it could cover her weird yellow birthmarks.

“No don’t hide them,” Hippolyte scoffed. “I just wasn’t expecting to see these on Venus.”

So she wasn’t the _only_ one with these.

“What are they?”

“How bout I tell you and your parents at dinner.”

Dinner was far fancier than any Aphrodite could remember, though everyone said the last time they’d used these plates, the King of Mercury had been visiting. She tried very, very hard to stay awake through all the pleasantries and the icky looking appetizer, but her face hit the table more than once. Thankfully Evening Nanny – her most fun Nanny – was minding her, and Hippolyte was across from her. Neither of them said anything to Mother or Father.

 _Finally_ after she’d slurped half her soup and felt a little more awake, they brought up something interesting.

“Now,” her father said. “To this ‘Guardian of Love’ business”

“She’s got the powers to match the title,” Hippolyte said. “True, there’s nothing about a guardian ever changing their designation in the past, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. After all, Aphrodite herself is a bit of a mystery. I wouldn’t worry if her powers present a little differently.”

“And her… appearance,”

Hippolyte shrugged. “Planets work in ways we don’t always understand, King Zeus, as does magic.” She felt very, very stern as she looked at her father “If Aphrodite doesn’t look like most Venesiens or past Sailor Venuses that’s only because she’s special.”

She’d never seen anyone match her father glare for glare for this long. Not even her mother. Their feelings were interesting. Father felt irritated and more than a little nervous. And Hippolyte felt angry too and calm – something she’d never felt anyone one feel while angry. Then her father started growing more and more nervous until _he_ looked away. Hippolyte felt incredibly pleased, though Aphrodite was sure no one else could tell from her face. Maybe there was something important to this “hiding your feelings” business.

“It’s good that she’s transformed now in any case,” Hippolyte was saying. “We’re hoping the other young guardians do soon – my niece and Mars and Mercury’s guardians are all around your age,” Hippolyte said to Aphrodite. “And we’re hoping you’ll all be able to transform by the summer – Serenity thinks it would be good for all of you to start your training together.”

“Training,” Mother worried. “But she’s only five.”

“I’ll be six _soon_ ” Aphrodite said. It was only… like 130 something days from now.

“We know they’re young,” Hippolyte said. “But Guardians have always started their training as soon as they can transform – it’s a good idea for them to get familiar with their powers. And considering how unique they are, it would be good for all the girls to train together.”

“Would they be my friends?” Aphrodite asked.

“I’m sure they’d love to be,” Hippolyte promised. “Though I apologize in advance for Thorunn. She’s… very excitable.”

“So’s Aphrodite,” her father muttered. “They’d be best friends.”

 _Best friends_. Aphrodite’s eyes widened. She didn’t even have a friend and now there was someone who might be her _best_ friend.

Her mother looked at her and sighed. “That would be very good for Dite.” Then she looked at Hippolyte “Alright – the summer then. Is that when Serenity’s due?”

Hippolyte suddenly felt very, very happy. So happy it made Aphrodite grin too even though she was getting much better at not reacting to feelings that weren’t hers. She couldn’t help it this time. “June 30th,” she said. “That’s the math’s prediction of course, though the seers are all adamant it’s impossible to see these kinds of things.”

“What things?” Aphrodite said.

Hippolyte chuckled. “The Moon’s going to have a Princess by the time you come to train,” she told Aphrodite. “We’re just not sure when she’ll arrive. But,” she smiled even wider. “We’re hoping you and your parents and all the other guardians can come for her Naming Ceremony. And then perhaps you could stay the whole summer and train with the other girls.”

“Okay!” Aphrodite said. “Do they look different too? Do they all have chain attacks? And symbols on their foreheads? And birthmarks like mine?”

“ _Questions_ ,” her father growled.

“It’s _fine_.” Hippolyte told him. Then she beamed at Aphrodite and said: “all of them look different than each other – Mercury’s hair is as blue as your eyes.”

“Woah!”

“Uhuh. And they all have their planet’s symbol on their forehead. They all have different powers than you. Or they will. Sailor Jupiter’s made impressive amounts of lightning for her age. And Sailor Mars has already started playing with fire even though she hasn’t transformed yet.”

“I wanna play with fire!” she said.

“ _No!”_ her mother and father both groaned

But Hippolyte laughed. “That is a Mars-only power, thank goodness. And Sailor Mercury, when she transforms, will likely have plenty of ice and water to handle any fire,” She closed her eyes a moment and felt as though she were remembering something nice. “The perfect team.” Then she looked at Aphrodite again. “But to your last question – thank you for reminding me.” She looked at both her parents. “I noticed she has a pair of very interesting yellow lines on her back.”

“They’re normal aren’t they?” Mother worried. “She’s always had them.”

“They’re very normal,” Hippolyte assured them. “Though rare. You don’t see them on many worlds. They’re called Wing Marks.”

 _Wing… marks_ …

“Like a bird!” Aphrodite gasped. And so did her mother. Her father groaned.

“Fantastic,” he muttered. Though he felt it was the opposite of fantastic. Aphrodite didn’t care.

“The wings themselves will grow in as she ages,” Hippolyte said.

“I’ll be able to fly!” Aphrodite exclaimed.

“In time, yes,” Hippolyte beamed at her. “You absolutely will.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

It seems Hippolyte’d barely left before there was a huge amount of changes to her days. She didn’t have Afternoon Nanny anymore. Instead, she got an etiquette tutor, Madam Lupe. She was worse than _any_ Nanny, and had warts, and felt very, very grumpy all the time. And instead of wandering the beaches, Aphrodite had to spend Every. Single. Day, with _her._

She was never satisfied with anything. Aphrodite never stood quite straight enough, and never sat straight enough, and she never held her long, formal skirts right. She dreamed every night that she’d get to wear pants on the Moon. Clearly Hippolyte didn’t follow this many rules. She bet the princesses on the other worlds could slouch if they wanted to.

She couldn’t wear her shorter play dresses now. She had to wear the formal ones all the time to practice. And she had to walk with books on her head and then with _more_ books balanced on her hands. And she had to eat meals with the books on her head too. And if the books fell, she didn’t eat. That was Father’s and Madam Lupe’s rule. Mother was nice and often brought her sweet rolls at bedtime on the nights the books fell. They fell less and less as she practiced. After a whole month she could even eat without them falling at all. It only felt like a tiny accomplishment. Madam Lupe still nagged her about how big the bites of food she ate were, and how she cut things with the knife, and how she held the soup bowl, and how she did _everything_. Madam Lupe even nagged her about how she played. She must stay on the walkways. And she must smile at everyone. And she mustn’t get any part of her skirts dirty. She couldn’t run or swim. Snd she _definitely_ couldn’t roll in the mud.

“WHY?” she shouted one day after she’d seen tons of other kids getting dirty chasing each other through the vineyard.

“Because,” Father had explained before Madam Lupe in a much more patient tone than he’d ever used with her. “You are our best representative. It’s very important that you show your best manners. All our trading partners will be at the Naming Ceremony. So you must be on your best behaviour – it doesn’t matter that the Moon Queens are unnaturally lax about these things. Manners matter.” He considered her for a moment and said. “You may do as you please most of the time,” and he held up a hand as Madam Lupe squawked. “But please, in front of the Mercurian and the Saturni delegations, _please_ abide by your manners.”

He was being so patient she even hazarded to ask his least favorite question. “Why?”

“They’re our largest trading partners,” Father explained, he didn’t even feel irritated. Maybe she was doing so well with the manners he was actually starting to like her. “And Mercurians and Saturnis hold good manners in the highest regard of any worlds in the Silver Alliance,” he looked sternly at her. “So I trust you to behave as Madam Lupe is teaching you. You’ll be representing the entire world. The guardian has always been the most respected of representatives.”

She nodded and bowed to him. And Madam Lupe didn’t even feel disapproving. She wasn’t even frowning. “I promise I will.”

“I know you will,” Father said to her. “You’ve made a lot of progress and you have a whole two more months before the Naming Ceremony. I am _sure_ you will do well.”

As it turned out though, she didn’t have two more months. In fact it was only two more weeks before she was awoken early, not by Morning Nanny, but by her mother.

“The Moon Princess has come early!” she fretted. She was very nervous. “Oh, we still have to get your new dresses fitted. The ceremony’s in barely a week.” She hustled Aphrodite through getting ready and through a very rushed breakfast before standing her on a stool in front of the tailor and begging her to _please_ stand still.

“We’ll only have time to fit this once,” Mother warned. “If you squirm and its measured wrong, you’ll be wearing it and the rest like it all summer no matter how uncomfortable they are.”

So she held herself very still, noting how strange her mother felt: sort of sad, underneath all her nervousness.

“Is it really a good idea to send all of you there?” the tailor muttered. “Especially now?”

Mother sighed. “Zeus will be remaining here now.”

“ _What_?” Aphrodite exclaimed, though she held still. Madam Lupe’s training was very effective after all. “ _Why_?” She’d so been looking forward to Father being there to see how well she behaved and being able to feel him be proud of her.

“It’s for the best,” the tailor said. “With what’s happened.”

“There’s been some criminals causing trouble in the Moon Kingdom,” Mother explained. “Nothing for you to worry about. They’d never attempt to go to the castle.” She looked worried and felt more worried despite saying that. “But it’s a good precaution for one of us to stay here. Your Father’s more than happy to. But _I_ promise I’ll be with you,” she said. Then she sighed. “Unfortunately not through your summer training. Ooh! I can’t _believe_ I need to agree to that.”

“Begging your pardon,” the tailor said to her mother. “But I’d be most happy to have _trained_ guardians if evil is going to start making appearances.” He shivered. “Or have you forgotten the old stories?”

“What’s evil?” she asked.

Mother felt suddenly very, very sad. “It’s darkness,” Mother said. “It tries to harm all the good things we have. It isn’t like those criminals your father has you judge every week.” She shook her head. “And it’s not something I can hide you from… not matter how much I want to.”

“Guardians are meant to fight it,” the tailor said. “Though I wonder very much what chance Love and Beauty stands. The stories say the guardians of fairness and fortune could turn evil to stone.”

“Aphrodite will do just fine,” Mother said, though she still felt all sorts of sad. “Her Majesty even assured me she’s the strongest of any of the younger guardians.”

The strongest one…

 _Am I really strong?_ She asked Lady. _I don’t feel strong_.

 _Use your powers more, and in time you will,_ Lady assured her. _You’re the strongest guardian I’ve ever blessed with my powers. Because you are more than just me._

 _I’m part-comet too,_ Aphrodite remembered Lady saying.

 _That must be what it is,_ Lady agreed.

The two-day carriage journey to the moon Kingdom was the longest days of her life. She spend it with Mother and four soldiers stuck inside a space only as big as her bedroom. And it was fun to sleep in the bunk beds and even more fun to see space and see Sol and get to ask all sorts of questions about space, but it was _so_ boring.

What made it even longer was how grim everyone felt. She’d called it sadness at first. Then she’d heard one of their soldiers say the word “grim.” Yes, grim was a much better word.

She was the first to spot the Moon Kingdom approaching. She woke up to the bright, white light shining through the big windows on the front of the carriage and nearly fell out of her bunk as she scrambled across the room and stood on the chess table to see. The bright, white, pearl of The Moon Kingdom glowed much, much brighter than the blue Earth orbiting nearby. She could see the rainbow colors reflecting off the palace dome even from here.

“Still bright,” a soldier muttered when he woke and came to stand beside her. “That’s good.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” she asked

The soldier sighed and shook his head. “No reason, Princess,” he said. “I’m being silly to worry. The Silver Crystal and Queen Serenity are as strong as they’ve ever been.”

Queen Serenity. That was whom Hippolyte had wanted her to meet. That was who would be the Moon Princess mother. “Is she a guardian too?” she asked. It would make sense, surely. Everyone always talked about her like she was one.

The soldier shook his head. “Never has been. Moon can’t have a guardian anyways, it’s not a real planet.”

“The rumor is,” another soldier said. “That she came from another galaxy.”

“That’s hogwash,” the soldier who stood next to her said.

“Well her advisors are from another star system ain’t they? And she’s lived what? Eight hundred years now. Only people on the outer worlds ever live that long. Or guardians, and she’s never transformed into one.”

“So she could be from an outer world then,” Aphrodite guessed. And the two soldiers shook their heads.

“Looks nothing like any Juper,” the first soldier said. “And she ain’t strange enough to be a Saturni,”

“She don’t look like she’s Neptunese either, _or_ Plutonian.”

“ I guess she could be Uranian,” the first soldier snickered. “Wouldn’t that be the irony of it all then?”

“Nothing could match Sailor Uranus for irony – even a… the Moon Queen being from Uranus,” the second soldier replied. He shook his head. “The ‘Other Galaxy’ theory’s the most plausible anyway. How else does the Silver Crystal match the gold one for power? It can’t be made from _just_ a moon. That’d be ridiculous.”

“It’s just hard to believe is all,” the first soldier said.

“Well the only two that know never say anything… never said anything… wait” the second soldier swore. “That’s a hell of an adjustment.”

“What is?” Aphrodite said without looking away from the Moon.

“Speaking,” the first soldier said. “It’s difficult for him.”

She laughed a little, even if they both felt too grim for her to really laugh well.

She fidgeted more and more the closer they got, hours ticking by as the Moon Palace grew larger, and the sea came into focus. She could barely feel the feelings of everyone else in the carriage over her own excitement – especially after the carriage jolted when they soared beneath the atmosphere and dove towards the grassy fields on the far side of the Moon Palace’s grounds. The Moon Kingdom was _beautiful_.

“It’d be very good of you to transform,” her mother said, once they’d landed. She had to say it loudly too – to be heard over Aphrodite’s cheering. “I think it would be most proper for Queen Serenity to meet you as Sailor Venus.”

“Okay!” she exclaimed, and she raised her hand and shouted _“Venus Power!”_ and then she was Sailor Venus again, and she felt all the bright power buzzing through her from her pretty flats to her now free, blond hair. She whipped her head back and forth to shake it loose. It was too simple a hairstyle for being a princess, her mother always said. But she’d already tried braiding it when Aphrodite was Sailor Venus and it hadn’t worked at all. So Aphrodite got to keep her hair loose in this form at least.

She was the first out of the carriage, barely hearing her mother’s reprimands to _walk_ as she raced across the field and to the beautiful, though empty, fountain at the end of the promenade that led to the sparkling, white palace. The tiles on the walkway were smooth, and she could see her face in them! And all around her there were columns that she noticed would also be fountains, but they too were off, the water that would cascade from them was still in the trenches that bordered the promenade.

“Why are they off?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” her mother said. Aphrodite frowned. She had a hard time telling when it was her mother, but it sure _felt_ like she was lying.

The only reason her mother and their four soldiers could keep up was because she twirled her way down the promenade, taking in the grounds, and the sparking sea beyond the palace, and the sky overhead where she could see a _whole other_ planet looming big and close. They could barely even _see_ the Earth or Mercury from Venus, far less anything else.

As she stared up at it, she saw another sort-of carriage arc across the sky. “Look!” she said.

This one wasn’t being drawn by flying horses. Instead it had huge jets of flame spitting out behind it, and it was shiny and black from its pointy front to the tail behind it.

“The Martians brought a warship,” the soldiers marvelled. “It ain’t that dangerous is it?”

“Don’t take your cues from them,” the one who’d talked with her that morning said. “Swear they’re paranoid about everything. Tragedy, sure, but we’ve got the Silver Crystal here.”

“Hardly a comfort,” the third muttered.

“Well it and the Martians comfort _me_ ,” her mother said. “ _Wait_ , Aphrodite, don’t run to them,” she said, motioning for her to stand still. “It is appropriate that we wait here.”

“Why can’t we wait inside?” Aphrodite said. “Or greet them close up?”

“Because it would be beneath our station to run to meet others of the same standing,” her mother said. “Equally so, it is rude to see anyone, regardless of standing, and walk ahead without them.”

“You won’t be waiting long kiddo,” her favorite of the soldiers said, “Martians move fast.”

Indeed they did, and she found she didn’t mind waiting outside so much as she minded not running to them. Especially after she spotted the small, bright red person who leapt out of the warship first. She looked Aphrodite’s age! And she had long black hair and her skirt was bright red, instead of bright orange. And her bow looked purple the closer she got.

And she had _heels._ Aphrodite noticed. She hated heels. How could anyone walk in them much less be a guardian in them?

She couldn’t help herself once they were close enough for she and the red girl to meet eyes. She broke form and ran to her, holding out her hand before she remembered to bow.

“Hi, Sailor Mars!” she exclaimed. And Mars took her hand and shook it. She was so pretty. So Aphrodite did what she’d seen her father do whenever he met someone pretty. She kissed Mars gloved hand.

“Venesiens,” she heard one of the other Martians mumble. “Overly formal charmers the lot of them.”

“Is that a common custom?” Mars asked her. Her face was a little red. Was that her fault?

“Yes,” Venus declared. There was something odd about Mars. Maybe it was her cool purple eyes or the spear she held in her other hand.

“Hmm,” she said. “On my planet it isn’t. Anyways,” and then she bowed, to Venus and then to her Mother. “Queen Dione,” she said. “I’m Sailor Mars, Guardian of War,”

“It is lovely to meet you, Sailor Mars – Aphrodite, have you remembered to introduce yourself _properly_.”

Oops.

“Um – right. I’m Sailor Venus. And I’m the Guardian of Love and Beauty.”

“You can… fight with those?” Mars frowned.

“ _Yes_ ,” Aphrodite scowled. She’d thought the other guardians were supposed to like her, but this Mars clearly didn’t.

“If you say so,” Sailor Mars said, holding her head a little higher and pointing her spear towards the Palace. “Shall we,” she said it to Dione more than she did to Venus.

“We shall,” her mother said, and their four soldiers fell back to talk with the contingent of Martians as the three of them walked ahead. “Are your own parents with you, Sailor Mars?”

“Unfortunately not,” Mars said, and she didn’t feel the slightest bit sad about it. _That’s what’s weird_ , Venus realized _She doesn’t feel anything_. “They were here several days ago, but it isn’t a good idea to have them and myself gone from Mars for very long.”

“Oh of course it wouldn’t be,” her mother said, though it made no sense to Venus.

With Sailor Mars along, her mother walked more quickly, and she could walk more quickly too, and she couldn’t stop staring at the pure white palace with the great, black banners draped over the doors and off all the balconies. There was a guard in all black standing by the big doors and he pushed them both open as they approached, bowing so low to Mars and Venus that his helmet nearly brushed his boots.

She slowed as she passed him, causing her mother to bump into her as the feelings in the atrium struck her – grimmer than her own soldiers and accompanied by an intense, true sadness shared between all of the men and women who lined the atrium, all dressed in the same black livery.

“I know, what you’re feeling, Dite,” her mother said. Venus jumped. She hadn’t realized her mother’d leaned down behind her. She squeezed Venus’s shoulders. “It’s okay Sweetie, keep walking.”

She noticed Mars too, looking at her with one of her pretty eyebrows raised. She didn’t need to feel her feelings to know that look. She looked just like Father when he thought she’d said something dumb and just like the kids who had teased her.

She straightened her shoulders so much it would have even impressed Madam Lupe and held her head higher than Mars was holding hers. Who cared how all the people in the palace were feeling. She wasn’t gonna let _Mars_ think she was weak.

She walked ahead of all of them, right up to the herald at the end of the Atrium, dressed in black like everyone else, who was standing beside a pair of white doors with a pink flower painted between the two of them. The herald bowed low just like all the others before straightening and tapping her staff three times against the floor.

“Announcing Sailor Venus, Sailor Mars, and Queen Dione of Venus,” the woman said as the doors behind her swung open.

She bounded in, stopping short just as she took in the vision of Queen Serenity at the end of the room. She stood from her white throne as Venus approached and her hair, pure silver, fell nearly to the floor. It was held in perfect tails on either side of her head. It seemed to glow too, just like the rest of her, the same pale white as the moon itself. Even her gold crown shone, and (Sailor Venus stared) she had a symbol on her forehead just like a guardian would. _She must really be powerful,_ Sailor Venus thought. She wasn’t looking at Sailor Venus, instead she was looking at the bundle of white blankets in her arms, which was cooing – _The Moon Princess_!

“It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Sailor Venus,” the Queen’s voice was a bit hoarse, like Aphrodite’s after she’d been sick. “Sailor Mars, and Dione,” she looked up at last and nodded at her mother. She had such bright, blue eyes. “It has been ages.”

“It truly has,” her mother said, bowing lower than she’d ever bowed to anyone. “I’m so sorry, Your Majesty,”

“Thank you,” Serenity said, and then she finally looked at Aphrodite.

She shivered as soon as she met the Queen’s eyes and didn’t realize it was her gasp that had made the Queen frown. She trembled. Her hand came up over her heart and she stumbled back, into Sailor Mars.

“Hey watch it!”

She barely heard. And now she could barely see. She sniffed. And then again. She felt so very, very cold and sad. She’d never felt so sad in her life.

 _It’s not me_ she realized as the strength of the feelings overwhelmed her. She began to sob just as her transformation failed. _It’s her_.

She ran to Serenity, tripping on her long, formal gown and hugged the Moon Queen’s legs.

“ _Aphrodite!”_ her mother shouted. “Your Majesty, forgive her. Sometimes she’s…”

“I’m sorry,” Aphrodite mumbled into Queen Serenity’s dress. “I don’t know why, but I’m sorry.”

Serenity placed her warm hand on Aphrodite’s head and she instantly felt calm, gentle power flood through her, banishing her tears.

“It’s alright,” Serenity murmured to her as she stepped back. “Are you okay, Princess Aphrodite?”

“Yes,” Aphrodite sniffed. “But you’re not,”

“You really can feel other’s emotions,” Serenity marvelled as she returned her hand to the bundle of blankets in her arms, rocking the Moon Princess who’d begun to cry. She rocked her as she told Aphrodite. “It’s an astonishing ability.”

“Why are you so sad?” Aphrodite whispered. “Why are you _all_ so sad.”

The Moon Queen bit her lip. “We’ve all had a very bad week, Princess Aphrodite,” she smiled a little at her daughter. “With only a little brightness in it,” and then she knelt. Which Aphrodite felt startle her mother. The Queen smoothed back Aphrodite’s hair. “But I promise what has hurt us will not hurt you here. I have every confidence in those guarding the palace now.” And she gestured to the doors at the end of the room. “If you’ll follow my advisor.” Aphrodite almost thought she was kidding until the white cat _bowed_ to her. “Artemis will show you and Sailor Mars to your rooms. And, Luna,” Aphrodite then noticed the purple cat standing at the doors on the other side of the throne room. “Will show Queen Dione and the rest of your delegations to theirs.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Artemis led her to a huge room with the Venus symbol on the doors. It had its own exit onto the palace balcony and it was right across from Mars’ and the bed was so big and fluffy that she couldn’t resist bouncing on it. She assured Artemis three times there wasn’t anything she needed and he said she was free to do as she wished until dinner. “There’s plenty of toys in Princess Thorunn’s room,” he said, nodding to the set of doors with the Juper symbol on them. “And she’s staying in her mother’s rooms this week, so I doubt she’ll mind if you use them.”

Her own room had tons of toys too – wooden swords, and puzzles, and balls to bounce and even a rocking horse. And though she was too nervous to knock on Mars door, she did manage to enjoy herself. She played with everything in the room until she’d made a spectacular mess and had just realized she would be in _so much trouble_ and proceeded to try cleaning it up, when she heart Artemis voice in the hall again.

“You’ll be here,” he was saying. “Right next to Sailor Mars.”

“Oh, really? Are we going to start training right away?” a little girl’s voice asked. Aphrodite crept up to the door. “Has… has Mars used her powers yet? I’ve only had mine a few weeks. I haven’t tried them much at all.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Artemis said. “Guardians don’t traditionally start their training until their teens, believe me it was a surprise to learn you would all come into yours so early.”

“Oh,” Aphrodite peeked the door open and caught sight of the tiny, blue haired girl dressed in a blue sailor uniform and looking at everything through the equally blue visor over her eyes. Aphrodite winced, her head suddenly hurt like it did when father came to dinner after long, difficult meetings.

“What sorts of theories are there about that?” Sailor Mercury was asking Artemis as they walked together into her room. She talked like an _adult_. “Is it just because there’s eight of us? Something to do with the re-emergence of dark energy, perhaps. I’ve read that Sailor energy tends to react to…”

Aphrodite rubbed her temples. Sailor Mercury was thinking _so much_.

 _I bet she’s way smarter than me,_ Aphrodite sniffed _,_ watching Mercury’s door close behind she and the cat advisor. _Just like Mars is way better at manners than me. And I bet Jupiter’s better at everything than me. She gets to stay with her mom, after all. Maybe she doesn’t_ need _training._

Just as she was about to close her door, the one across the hall swung open.

“You’re crying _again_?” Mars snapped. But she didn’t look like Sailor Mars anymore. Instead, she was wearing a red tunic and red pants with black trim around the hems and sleeves.

“ _Shut up,”_ Aphrodite said, rubbing her head. “I just feel too much, _okay_? Just cause you think it’s weird doesn’t mean you can yell at me.”

And she slammed the door in the Martian Princess’ face and ran to her bed, burying her face in the fluffy pillow.

She was sad, and her head hurt, and she was feeling everyone’s feelings worse than usual after meeting the Queen. And everyone else was sad and Mercury thought so much Aphrodite had a headache. And she couldn’t talk to Lady, and her mother wasn’t here, and she wanted to go _home_.

 _I bet Hippolyte wouldn’t think I was so strong now,_ Aphrodite thought as she cried.

She didn’t hear her door click open. So she didn’t realize she wasn’t alone until the Martian princess had sat on her bed and put a hand on her shoulder. Aphrodite froze and lifted her head, glaring up at the Martian Princess.

“You are weird,” the Martian princess said. “Everyone here is weird.”

“You’re weird,” Aphrodite muttered.

“I am not,” the princess retorted. Crossing her arms. Then she bit her lip. “I’m sorry if was mean to you… They said I should try to be friends with all of you, but everyone knows Venesiens are silly, and air-headed, and formal.”

“They’re too formal,” Aphrodite said. “I don’t know about the first two.”

“Well they suck at fighting don’t they?”

“That’s a bad word!” Aphrodite exclaimed.

“Ugh, you _are_ weird. You sound like my tutors.” The princess scowled. “Why’d you kiss me?”

“Cause you’re pretty,” Aphrodite said. “But that was before you were mean.”

“I… I am _trying_ not to be.” The princess scowled. “I just don’t understand _any_ of you.”

“Well I don’t understand you,” Aphrodite said. “I can’t even feel you!”

The princess got really quiet. “You really can feel what everybody feels.”

“Yes,” Aphrodite sniffed. “And everyone’s sad. And so I’m sad. And I don’t want to be, and it… sucks.” She stumbled over the bad word. Mother and Father would be so mad…

The Martian princess was frowning. “Why can’t you feel me?”

“I don’t know,” Aphrodite said. “Maybe you just don’t feel anything.” That was mean. She realized, and she could tell from Mars face too. She grabbed the princess hand as she slipped off the bed. “ _Wait_! _I didn’t mean thaaahh!”_ she fell on the floor herself as the Martian princess threw her over her shoulder. She landed with all the air rushing out of her and coughed. The Martian princess foot was on her chest, pressing down.

Then it was gone. And the Martian princess was kneeling by her, clutching her tunic over her heart as she helped Aphrodite sit up. “Sorry!” she mumbled. “I’ve never actually thrown anyone before! I was expecting you to fight back!”

“Ow,” Aphrodite wheezed. At least she didn’t feel everyone else’s sadness anymore. Her head hurt a lot more though. She coughed.

“Sorry!” the princess said. “Please don’t be hurt…”

“I’m okay,” Aphrodite said. She was already getting her breath back. She sniffed again. And again.

 _“Stop crying!”_ the Martian princess yelled. Her hand shook Aphrodite. “I don’t know how to… fight crying.”

“You fight so good,” Aphrodite murmured. “I… I can’t fight at all.” She sniffed again. “And I have to feel what everyone else does. And I’ll never be a strong guardian like you.”

“I… don’t… know what to do…” the Martian princess muttered, grabbing Aphrodite’s other shoulder. “I’m sorry…”

She suddenly didn’t care if this princess was mean and weird. Her hands were warm like Serenity’s, and she had leaned in close to Aphrodite’s face, and her hair smelled pretty like flowers. She fell on her, wrapping her arms around the Martian princess and burying her face in her tunic. She sobbed on her as the Martian princess held her stiffly. And then after a very long time of Aphrodite crying on her, she relaxed. And she hugged Aphrodite back.

She ran out of tears shortly after. Rubbing her eyes with her hands as she pulled away from the Martian. “Sorry.” she sniffed.

“Um… It’s okay… Do people on Venus hug a lot?”

“Not really. Maybe the other castes. Mother hugs me a lot.”

“They’re nice,” the Martian decided. “Are you… done crying now?”

“I think so,” Aphrodite murmured. “I think I’ll cry when we have dinner though.”

“Cause you… feel everyone.” The Martian thought a moment. “I think I can fight that.” And she grabbed Aphrodite’s hand and dragged her over to the fireplace. She pointed her finger at it and Aphrodite’s eyes widened – all the wood in the hearth was suddenly aflame.

“Sit like this,” the Martian said and Aphrodite copied her, kneeling and clasping her hands in her lap. “And do what I do –” and she breathed in for a really long time, and held it, and then breathed it all out again super slowly. “Now you.”

It took her three tries to do it to the Martian’s satisfaction. And then the princess said. “That’s meditating. It helps me keep my head clear – especially when I do it in front of the fire.” She breathed again, in… and out. And it was easy for Aphrodite to copy her. “We can do this until dinner,” the Martian said. “Then maybe you’ll be calm enough that you won’t cry.”

So they meditated together. The Martian princess watching the fire and Aphrodite trying it at first, but she found meditating worked much better when she stared at the Martian girl, who was so pretty and still weird and maybe a little bit nice… maybe.

 _Having her is better than having no friends_ , Aphrodite decided.

She was a lot calmer by the time Serenity knocked on her door and asked them to come down to dinner. Mercury’s mind didn’t make hers hurt at least. But Serenity still felt impossibly sad. Aphrodite shivered as they followed her and reached out for the Martian princess hand. The other girl flinched. Oh that was right. She didn’t like touching.

“Sorry,” she started to say. But the Martian princess hand stayed in hers, and held it… maybe too tightly, but it was calming all the same.

“It’s okay,” the Martian girl whispered as they walked behind the chatting Queen Serenity and princess of Mercury.

“What’s your name?” Aphrodite asked.

“Areisa.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

She stuck close to Areisa the rest of the day, and found that everyone’s feelings didn’t make her nearly so sad if she focused on how Areisa didn’t feel like _anything._ For the first time in her life, Aphrodite found herself trying not to feel anything too.

It was easier away from everyone. The tall, princess Thorunn didn’t say much to them except hello, but they got to spend a lot more time with Mercury, Princess Athena, that night. _She_ was weird. She talked more than Aphrodite and used words Aphrodite bet even her father didn’t know and she coloured inside the lines.

But she wasn’t sad, and after Aphrodite got her to laugh at a picture she wasn’t thinking quite so hard either. And then she was really nice – nicer than Areisa by a lot. And she talked about Mercury a lot too, even if she said lots of things that Aphrodite didn’t understand (Areisa looked confused too, which made her feel much less dumb).

They talked until her mother and Queen Serenity came up to say goodnight to them and Serenity seemed to feel a bit less sad, or maybe she knew how to hide it like Areisa seemed to. She still held the baby princess in her arms, wrapped up in lots of blankets. Aphrodite wondered if she ever put her down.

She found, despite the fluffy bed, she didn’t sleep well that night, and from the look on Areisa’s face the next morning, she hadn’t slept well either.

“It’s nothing,” Areisa said. “I had a… bad dream.” She shook her head and ran a hand through her still-messy black hair. “But the Queen said we’re protected here. So it’s not gonna happen.”

“What?” she and Athena asked as they went down to breakfast.

“An attack,” Areisa whispered.

 _Maybe it’s the evil Mother talked about_ , Aphrodite thought. She squared her shoulders. “Well even if it did, there’s four guardians here – we have guardians of War and Wisdom, and Love and Beauty…and whatever Jupiter is.” She looked at the two of them. “We can fight it right?”

“I don’t know,” Athena said. “I’ve never fought anything. I’ve only read about it.”

“I can fight.” Areisa said.

“See, Brains,” Aphrodite said. “We can do it.”

She ran to her mother as soon as she saw her at breakfast, hugging her around the waist.

“What’s wrong?” her mother said.

Aphrodite suddenly didn’t want her to know about the attack. After all, Areisa herself said it probably wouldn’t happen. So for the first time ever, she tried to change her face so she was smiling instead of frowning. “Nothing,” she promised her mother. “I’m just hungry.”

“Well remember your manners,” her mother said.

The Naming Ceremony was a whole hour after breakfast – everyone else needed a long time to get ready. The guardians didn’t. It took them barely a second to transform.

Everyone bustled about getting changed and putting the final touches in the throne room for the Naming Ceremony. And then it was just the four of them together in the atrium – Venus, Mercury, Mars, and the subdued Sailor Jupiter who held her big hammer in both hands and didn’t seem to want to talk to anybody. She seemed sad just like everyone else. All they had was the herald and a lady in waiting named Cornelia to watch them.

Aphrodite looked at the three other guardians, biting her lip. Mercury sorta felt like she could be her friend. And Areisa hadn’t been mean to her since they’d met. But she wondered if they’d really be friends. Jupiter didn’t seem interested at all. And she was supposed to have been her _best_ friend.

She bounced on the balls of her feet and tapped her pretty orange flats against the ground.

Surely they didn’t have to stand here in silence for an _hour_.

“Hey, Brains,” she said loudly to Mercury. “Who do you think can run faster – me or Jupiter?”

Athena might have been as nervous as her, but she immediately started thinking. Aphrodite’s head already hurt. “Well, based on her height and age, I am inclined to say Jupiter,” Mercury decided. “But you _did_ run incredibly fast yesterday.”

“I’m faster,” Jupiter said immediately. “ _I_ run like lightning.”

“Wanna bet?” Venus asked, walking right up to Jupiter. The other girl watched her as she ignored all her manners and rose up on her toes. If Jupiter was going to be her friend, she needed to pay attention to her first. She pressed her nose right up to Jupiter’s. The older girl was already irritated. Aphrodite crossed the fingers of one hand behind her back as she poked Jupiter on the shoulder. “Tag, you’re it.” and she sped off, running to the opposite side of the atrium as Jupiter yelled and chased her, nearly keeping up with her even though she held the heavy looking hammer in one hand.

Venus shrieked as she raced Jupiter around the room, feeling her go from sad to excited as they raced onwards. She even felt the herald and Cornelia get less sad. And when she looked they were smiling.

And when she looked, Jupiter caught her, crashing into her with so much force that Venus “oofed” and the two of them tumbled to the floor in a heap.

“Gotcha!” Jupiter grinned.

“Still faster,” Venus said.

“Well _I’m_ faster than both of you.” Mars declared, tapping them both on the head with the butt of her spear. “You’re _both_ it.”

And then she and Jupiter were scrambling over each other to get to Mars who was sticking out her tongue at them as she ran. And Mercury was shouting for them not to smash into the walls, as there was a good chance they would break the stones just… like that. And then Mercury was running too as the three of them chased her for nagging.

As it happened, by the end, they didn’t know who was the fastest, but Jupiter was definitely the strongest cause she put two more holes in the walls with just her hands _and_ she lifted Mercury all the way over her head when she caught her.

 _“APHRODITE!_ ”

“ _THORUNN!”_

There were scratches, dents, and even scorch marks all over the walls and the floor by the time their parents got downstairs. Venus and Jupiter both froze in their tracks when their mothers shouted at them.

They were midway through their apologies when Aphrodite felt someone turn absolutely delighted in the otherwise gloomy Moon Palace and heard someone’s laughter, as sweet as music, filter through the atrium.

And there, between her startled mother and an even more startled Queen of Jupiter was Queen Serenity, carrying the baby princess and smiling as Aphrodite had not seen her smile since arriving, and it was her laugh that was so beautiful. Aphrodite realized she hadn’t heard that either.

“I clearly can’t leave the four of you alone ever,” the Queen was giggling, happy despite the sadness Aphrodite could still feel all over her. How could adults be sad and happy at the same time? It didn’t make any sense!

“Come on,” the Moon Queen said, beckoning them into the throne room. “I’ve been waiting for you all.”

They entered after her mother and the Juper Queen. The Queen announced them herself.

“Presenting: Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury – the four Guardians of the Princess!” And once the four of them had knelt in the center of the room, the Queen held the princess up to the crowds. Venus beamed when she got her first real look at her.

 _She has hair like mine!_ Venus thought. The baby princess looked as beautiful as her favourite dolls. And her eyes were blue – not as dark as Aphrodite’s blue – but like the Queen’s.

She had a mark on her forehead just like the Queen’s too – a golden crescent mark. _Does that make her a guardian?_ Venus wondered. No… the Moon wasn’t a planet, she remembered. Besides: Queen Serenity had one and she wasn’t a guardian.

“We’ve been eagerly waiting for this!” Jupiter was grinning on her left side. “We will protect her with our lives!”

“She’s most precious to us,” Venus continued.

“And she will become Queen someday,” Mars swore.

Their sentiments were echoed by the other guests and then an older lady in a golden habit came forward and asked the Queen what the child was to be called.

“Her name is Serenity,” the Queen announced, looking away from her daughter and towards Venus and the other guardians. Her eyes were shiny. “Soon she’ll grow and catch up to you all.” She smiled. “It’ll be fun, to see what kind of princess she grows up to be.”

Suddenly, as she and the others watched all the presents being opened, Venus felt someone very different in the room. Someone hurt, angry, and cold. She heard a giggle and looked in the doorway to the atrium.

“I also have a present for you,” The stranger said.

And then the room got very cold. Venus felt the Queen panic, just as everyone else in the room suddenly panicked.

Beside her, Mars whimpered, Jupiter’s hammer fell from her hand, Mercury began to cry.

She saw, before her, the white palace burning, its columns crashing towards each other, and the Earth overhead was a sickly, bloody red. Everything around her smelled like sweat and acrid, cloying smoke. She whipped around in time to see a teenager with long, blond pig-tails and a stunning white gown crumple to the ground, sobbing.

She felt heavy and cold, and grabbed her head. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. She could feel everyone else’s panic still and she latched onto that. She wasn’t here in this burning world. She was in the throne room, and everyone was scared. She couldn’t move.

But the only times she couldn’t move were in her nightmares.

 _That’s all this is_ , Venus thought. _A nightmare_.

And then she didn’t see the crying princess anymore, or the burning palace, or the smoky skies. Instead she saw the throne room in the moon palace again, with all the lights extinguished and everyone still frozen.

“For the biggest celebration on the Moon,” someone was muttering. Aphrodite darted her eyes towards the Atrium doors. Someone was walking through them, her dark hair and dress looked like shadows in the dark room. “And I was uninvited.”

She walked right past Aphrodite, past all the soldiers and the guardians and up to the frozen Queen Serenity. The Queen’s eyes stared far away. The lady grabbed her by the chin.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t exist,” the dark haired woman muttered. She felt very scared, very angry, and very, very dark and cold like whatever magic she’d brought with her. Venus crept forwards. _What do I do_ , she thought, trying to think past everyone’s panic. Why were the other guardians frozen? _What do I do? What do I do_?

She had no hammer like Jupiter, no spear like Mars, and no idea how to fight. And Queen Serenity was still frozen in whatever nightmare Venus had just freed herself from.

The dark lady trailed a long nail across the Queen’s cheek, leaving a red cut behind.

“Not so pretty now,” she muttered and giggled. Venus shivered. The dark lady really felt absolutely delighted by scratching the Queen’s face. “I don’t know what she ever saw in you and not me.”

And then Venus froze as the dark lady moved, bending over and frowning at Princess Serenity in the Queen’s. “She looks just like you,” the dark lady scowled. “Wretched, wretched…” she giggled again.

 _What do I do? What do I do?_ The dark lady’s feelings were so all over the place Venus finally realized what her parents meant when they talked about criminals being “mad.” When they laughed through their testimonies.

“No matter,” the dark lady cooed. She put a hand to her chin as she considered baby Serenity. “I’m sure you don’t have to look this way. And I’m sure I can raise you better. You won’t be evil like she is. No, no. You’ll be just like My Love. I’m _sure_.” She reached her long, sharp nails towards Serenity.

 _Doesn’t matter!_ Venus thought as she stopped trying to sneak and charged forwards. _Just do something_. She raised her hands like they had a weapon again. She needed a good weapon, something to block the mad lady. “ _STOP!”_ she screamed.

The orange gem in her tiara glowed and grew hot as she grasped something sturdy and heavy in both her hands. She raised the weapon up between she and the mad lady and her eyes widened when a glowing sword clashed against the mad lady’s long fingernails. _I have to fight_ , she thought. She shouted the first words that came to her amid the panic of everyone in the room. “ _Venus Wink Chain Sword!”_

The attack wrapped around the mad lady, lashing her across the face and throwing her back until she slammed into the frame of the Atrium doors.

Instantly, everyone was awake. And everyone was screaming.

Except the guardians. Mars was glaring towards the atrium doors, spear already pointed at the mad lady and Jupiter had lightning rolling through the blade of her hammer. Even little Mercury had both hands before her. Venus glanced at baby Serenity, still crying in her blankets, and at the Queen, who was glaring towards the woman in the doorway.

“Polluter this holy place,” Venus shouted, joining the line with the other Guardians. She held the heavy sword in one hand so she could put her hand on Mercury’s shoulder. She felt the most afraid. “Who are you?”

The mad lady giggled, standing up and wiping a scratch Venus had left on her face. “I, too, live on the Moon, you know. But I live deep within its depths.

“Liar!” Jupiter shouted. “You don’t live on The Moon!”

“That’s right!” Mercury stammered.

“You came here without anyone’s knowledge,” Mars pointed her finger at her. “You’re just here to spread your wicked darkness all throughout this planet, aren’t you?”

Venus stepped towards Nehelenia, picking up the heavy sword again. The mad lady raised her hand.

“Wait,” the Queen commanded. Venus looked back and backed towards the Queen when she gestured to her. The Moon Queen passed baby Serenity down into Venus arms and stepped in front of all four of the guardians. “Nehelenia,” she addressed the mad lady. “If you are looking for peace and want to live on this planet, we welcome you here.” Queen Serenity didn’t feel like she liked that, even if she did mean it. “However,” the Queen continued. Venus shivered; the Queen felt as dark, and cold as Nehelenia. “I can not allow you to bring hatred and darkness to this world!”

The mad lady giggled. “That’s funny,” she said. “Since you, too, came to this planet after wandering the galaxy. Aren’t we both just immigrants here?”

Venus held the baby princess closer.

“Queen,” Nehelenia said. “Darkness is necessary, if you will simply take my hand, and accept the darkness…We’re not so different, you and I – we come from the same galaxy, the same planet. We both want the same things.”

Venus gasped along with everyone else in the room when Serenity reached her hand out towards Nehelenia. “She’s lying!” she shouted, but the Queen seemed not to hear. She felt empty, all of a sudden, Venus couldn’t do anything, both arms still holding baby Serenity. “Queen!” she shouted as Nehelenia’s dark power reached towards Serenity.

“Stranger!” Mars shouted, running in front of them all and shooting a fireball from her hand. “Leave here at once!”

It hit Nehelenia’s dark power and extinguished it in a woosh of smoke. And Venus felt Serenity’s senses return. She recoiled from Nehelenia, feeling sick. She opened her right hand and grasped a short, pink wand that appeared out of the air. It had a crescent on the top, and something shiny nestled in the middle of it. She pointed it at Nehelenia. Her arms were shaking.

“So that’s what you tried to do,” Serenity whispered.

“You use magic to give others the worst nightmares,” Serenity said coldly. “You have _caused_ mine.” She pointed the staff at Nehelenia who appeared frozen. For the first time since she’d entered the room, the only thing Nehelenia felt was scared. The gold mirror at the mad lady’s back glowed. “Now suffer your own – an eternity of it. I will seal you away! You will be forever banished to the world of darkness!” Then the crystal in the wand swallowed Nehelenia, and the Queen cried out as she pointed it at the golden mirror; Nehelenia’s darkness was expelled from the crystal, into the glass.

“ _I’ll give you a congratulatory present,”_ Nehelenia’s voice said as her eyes appeared huge in the mirror and glowed red.

Venus felt baby Serenity feel suddenly scared and the girl began to wail. She turned so she blocked the darkness with her back as it whipped around the room.

_“This Kingdom will fall to ruins. And your beautiful princess will die before she ever takes the throne! That is my present to you! I shall place you all under my beautiful curse!”_

The Queen shouted again, and the light in the crystal grew brighter. Venus watched the last of the darkness rush into the mirror. The glass darkened until she could only see her own reflection in it.

She shivered as the warmth returned to the room. Before the mirror vanished, she thought she saw Nehelenia’s shadow.

Queen Serenity rushed back to her, scooping the still crying Princess Serenity out of Venus arms. “Thank you,” she said.

The sword was suddenly heavy. She fell as the blade dragged her to her knees, feeling weak as her transformation faded away.

“ _APHRODITE!”_

“ _THORUNN!”_ she saw the Juper Queen sweep Sailor Jupiter up in her arms right before her own mother crashed into her. And Queen Serenity banished her staff and walked to Mercury and Mars, holding them both close.

“That was evil wasn’t it?” Aphrodite asked her mother.

“Yes,” her mother gasped, squeezing her. “You’re safe.”

“She wasn’t just safe,” Serenity’s voice carried over her mother’s. “She defended us all.” She nodded to the heavy sword that Aphrodite still clutched in her hand. “You truly must be so strong,” Serenity whispered. “That’s quite a powerful blade you summoned.”

Then she walked to Aphrodite, knelt, and picked it up without any effort at all. The gold accents and the red jewels on the blade sparkled in the lights of the throne room. “Moonlight is the Holy Sword,” Serenity explained. “That you’re meant to wield it proves what I have suspected.” She gestured to the other guardians. “You had the ability to break through that nightmare, where others didn’t, and to give strength to your friends.” She nodded to Aphrodite. “I’ll look to you to lead the guardians,” she said. “To keep them together when all seems dark.”

 _Leader_? Aphrodite thought, and her own mother echoed her thoughts.

“But,” her mother sputtered. “But your majesty – She’s not the oldest. And she’d never held a weapon before today. Surely Thorunn or Areisa would be…”

“I want Aphrodite to do it,” Thorunn whispered. She’d de-transformed now, and was still in her mother’s arms. “I let that evil thing just walk right in.”

“We’d still be stuck without her,” Areisa whispered, having pulled away from Serenity. “Even Martians know when they’re not fit to lead.” And then she bowed to Aphrodite, and _that_ felt weirder than anything else Areisa had done.

They took lunch in Aphrodite’s room cause the adults had things to discuss, and the Queen had rushed from the palace with Serenity, saying she had people to check on. So it was just the four of them and sandwiches huddled around the fire that no one thought was warm enough.

“She just walked right in,” Areisa growled, picking the crust off her sandwich and chucking it into the flames. “I _saw_ it, and even I wasn’t prepared for…”

“You thought it statistically impossible that it would occur,” Athena said, huddled close to Aphrodite. Thorunn and Areisa both refused to be hugged, though Thorunn felt like she should be.

“That witch got what she deserved at least,” Thorunn growled, punching her fist into her other palm.

“She almost got Serenity,” Aphrodite whispered, looking at all of them. “The Queen couldn’t do anything… what if I hadn’t?”

“But you did,” Areisa interrupted. “You fought good,” she scowled, dropping her mangled sandwich into her lap. “I sucked.”

“I sucked too,” Thorunn moped.

“I couldn’t have broken free without you!” Aphrodite insisted. “Knowing you were all scared – that’s what told me it wasn’t real!”

She held her hand in the middle of all of them and pointed her finger at Areisa. “Don’t bow to me again. We’re a team. Got it? I can’t be a good guardian without you,” she told Areisa. “Or you,” Thorunn, “And I’m sure I’ll be very bad without Brains.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Athena mumbled.

Aphrodite shook her. “Not today you didn’t – but next time. Next time we’re gonna put that brain of yours to work.” She opened her hand, palm up, between the four of them. “You heard the lady, Serenity might die before she’s even old enough to use that Silver Crystal. And she never did anything wrong.” She met all of their eyes. “We have to work together and protect her – and this place. You all saw that nightmare.”

Areisa was the first to put her hand in hers. “Yes,”

Then Thorunn, and then, shakily, Athena.

“I still don’t think I’ll be any good,” Athena muttered.

“Well Brains,” Thorunn grinned. Grins looked much better on her than frowns. “We have all summer to teach you.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Summer came and went before Aphrodite knew it. She didn’t summon the sword again, though she started training with a staff, a light one according to Serenity and Areisa though it felt very heavy to her. Areisa and Thorunn could both spar with her, and though, by summer’s end, she could match Thorunn on nearly every try, Areisa could always put her on the ground.

“She is the Guardian of War,” Thorunn consoled her after the both of them got their butts kicked sparring the Martian. “It makes sense that she’s good at everything.”

“Martians also begin training with a diverse array of weapons from the time they can hold them,” Athena said. “It’s important – They’re allowed to duel each other from the age of nine.”

“No fair,” Thorunn muttered. “I’ll be nine next year and Mother won’t let me duel anyone properly until I’m _fifteen_.”

“I’m not trading with you,” Areisa said as she walked up to them. “You’d be dead in a minute. I go easy on you guys.”

Aphrodite groaned. She still had the bruises from the _first_ time she’d fought Areisa. _This is easy?_ She thought.

Even if she was bruised all over by the time the autumn wind came to the Moon, she was still dreadfully sad to leave. She launched herself at Thorunn when she saw the Venesien carriage in the skies and felt the taller girl hug her back. She felt so sad that Aphrodite started to cry. It made Thorunn swear a word she’d learned from Areisa and start to cry too. And when they pulled apart, Athena was sniffling and Areisa wrapped Aphrodite up in her own hug.

“Stop crying,” she ordered. “You’re getting boogers on my shirt.”

But she didn’t let her go. And then she hugged Thorunn too, while Aphrodite turned and picked up little Athena (whom she’d only found out later was _four_. And Aphrodite didn’t believe it one bit). By the time the carriage had landed, they were all a hugging mess and Aphrodite was jammed into the middle of the huddle. She peered between Areisa and Athena’s shoulders and watched the door of the carriage swing open.

It was not her mother who stepped out. It was her father.

She froze up instantly. Aware that her hair was improperly loose and her dress was muddy and she was definitely _not_ taking care to mask her emotions. Areisa noticed her stiffen and stepped back, and the other two followed.

Her father nodded at her. He felt quite tired of her already. In fact he looked about to nag her, but then Queen Serenity’s voice interrupted him. She’d emerged from the palace with little Serenity in her arms and it prompted her father immediately to bow.

“Your Majesty,” he said. “I’m here to collect Aphrodite.”

“You should be very pleased with her.” The Queen smiled, beckoning Aphrodite over. She still felt quite sad most days, but now it seemed quite fresh. _She’s sad that I’m leaving_ , Aphrodite realized.

“She’s shown incredible potential,” the Queen said.

Her father nodded. “I look forward to seeing how she’s improved.”

And with goodbyes that seemed too brief, she was on her way home.

“You’ve certainly left no chance of salvaging those skirts,” her father tutted as he picked up his notebook and began writing.

“I… I made friends with Princess Athena,” she said.

He hummed. “Well that’s something at least.”

Even with Lady back for her to talk to, she missed the Moon Kingdom as soon as she set foot on Venus’ surface. There was no Areisa to tease, no Thorunn to laugh with, and no Athena to encourage into making mischief. Even praise from Mother or Madam Lupe didn’t make her feel the pride she had when Queen Serenity had praised her stance, or her aim, or her perky attitude. She even missed baby Serenity and all she did was smell and cry!

But, Aphrodite knew, the Princess was one of her favorite people to be around. She was happy about everything. And even when she was crying, it was easy to make her happy. Aphrodite’d never met anyone as happy as the baby princess. And it was a refreshing thing to feel from someone.

So she longed for the Moon, and when she visited her orbiting castle, Magellan, for the first time on her sixth birthday, the first thing she sought on its huge computers was the visage of the Moon Kingdom.

“How many days until summer?” she asked it.

“Three Hundred and Thirty One,” it answered. She groaned. She could barely count past a hundred!

It felt like the longest year of Aphrodite’s life and not even Lady could cheer her for long. She didn’t even get to talk to her very much, she was stuck in lessons _all_ day.

So when at last she made her second journey to the Moon Kingdom, she spent the entirety of the two-day ride bouncing about the carriage and imagining how the others would like their presents. There was wine from her parents, for the Queen, and the necklace of shells from her. She had a potted flower for Thorunn, a rock with crystals in it for Athena, and a pearl bracelet for Areisa, cause it was as pretty as she was.

She greeted Areisa with a kiss to the hand again, simply because she’d missed teasing her more than she’d missed nearly everything else. And Areisa responded by blushing and poking her, yelling “tag” and racing off. Aphrodite chased her all the way to the steps of the Moon Palace (which was no longer draped in black banners) and had nearly caught her, when the splash of cold doused her from crown to toes and soaked through her heavy new dress. She shrieked and glared up at the balcony.

“Nice one!” Thorunn high fived Sailor Mercury. “Check it out, Dite – Brains learned a new trick.”

She couldn’t even be mad. She tried very hard to be. But Thorunn sounded happier than she’d been the entirety of last year and Athena was beaming even if she was bright red and feeling sorry that Aphrodite was wet.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” she shouted. Then she transformed and was _finally_ free of her fancy hairdo and her heavy dress. She leapt all the way up onto the balcony with the love chain ready to grab the first trickster she could reach.

That summer, she learned Areisa could win hide and seek with her eyes closed, Athena could build a computer mostly by herself, and Thorunn was afraid of swimming – something they had to sort out _immediately_ according to Aphrodite. No one should hate swimming – especially not someone as cool as Thorunn.

They managed to break enough things in the normal training yards that the Queen built them their own, and they also managed, with some effort, to turn all Aphrodite’s skirts into pants. Thorunn did the sewing, and Athena read the instructions, and Areisa yelled at them all not to be such babies every time Thorunn accidentally stabbed herself or Aphrodite with the needles. They did such a good job that the Lady who minded them and Princess Serenity, Cornelia, only felt the need to redo half the stitching herself.

By the third summer, she nearly forgot to say goodbye to her mother when she dropped her off, and she wondered if that were the reason her mother was so angry and sad when she returned home.

Her fourth summer, Mother didn’t even fly with her to the Moon Kingdom. “Your father can’t be left alone,” she had muttered, feeling the spike of anger that she now always did whenever Aphrodite’s father was mentioned.

It was another year, and another summer, before she found out why.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

She was eleven at last – and everyone seemed sure this was the year her wings would grow in. They said it always accompanied other changes – like how tall she now was and how pretty everyone said she was growing to be. “You’re blossoming into a fine young lady,” her father praised. And he wasn’t even lying. She was so well mannered; Areisa and Thorunn’s latest nickname for her was Miss. Priss.

She’d been trying very hard, the past few years, to please her mother with her etiquette. In fact she was trying to please her anyway she could. Summers on the Moon were growing to be longer and longer – so long that the leaves on its trees had all turned pink before Aphrodite left this past year. She’d almost stayed for her birthday. Areisa, Thorunn, and Athena had wanted to. (None of them had ever celebrated any birthday, but Serenity’s together).

But she’d known how important the day was to her Mother. It was the only day Aphrodite ever felt her be truly happy anymore. Her birthdays, the past few years, they’d both gone sailing together, without her Father.

He had done something, Aphrodite knew, or several somethings. And her mother couldn’t look at him or talk about him without feeling hurt and angry and ashamed. It made her angry to feel her mother so upset and even angrier to feel her father _not_ feeling guilty about whatever it was.

So she went home for her eleventh birthday, just the day before, and leapt from the carriage before it had landed in order the run to her mother, who cared nothing for propriety when it was just the two of them.

When she hugged her though, she didn’t feel happy. She felt tired, and sad, and the more Aphrodite hugged her the more upset she felt.

“What’s wrong?” Aphrodite whispered.

“Oh nothing,” her mother lied, plastering a believable smile on her face. Believable to anyone else, that was. “I have the best news – your father’s joining us for your birthday this year. _And_ he has a surprise for you.”

They were having a ball, she learned only the morning of. She was fitted for a new dress as soon as she woke and after nearly four months running free in short shirts and pants it was nearly impossible to shuffle along in the heavy thing. But her mother was pleased and her father was pleased and everyone pronounced her _beautiful_ – a compliment rare from all the Venesiens who looked nothing like herself.

 _I’m the Guardian of Beauty_ , she thought. _And I don’t feel beautiful in this._ But she held her tongue. Her mother was happy. That was why Aphrodite’d come home for her birthday at all.

She could barely stand straight in the dress though, or sit up straight, and eating in it was near impossible. The tailor had fitted it incredibly tightly.

When the dancing at the ball began, she danced with every topaz boy and the more daring topaz girls who attended. It was only Topazes in attendance. The Pearls were playing the music and it was all the prettiest squires and pages – not the Granites – doing the serving. Her feet hurt by the fourth song and the sixth person stepping on them.

At last they announced she was to be presented with gifts. She sat in the smaller throne her father’d had built beside he and her mother’s last year and put her most genial smile on her face as governors, and senators, and mayors and their children approached her and presented her with wines and jewels and fabric for new gowns.

Her mother’s gift made her sit up straighter though.

It was a white cloak with bronze trim, symbols and charms for good luck, health, beauty, and fertility were embroidered along the inside. She’d only ever seen this once among her mother’s things. Her marriage cloak!

“For you in a few years time,” her mother sniffed. She felt all sorts of conflicted about the cloak in her hands. “When you’re old enough to wed. This was the most beautiful thing I owned when I was your age – and it brought me much luck in my own marriage.” She shot a look at her father that made him feel the barest hint of contrite. But only for a second “I hope it will bring you even more luck.”

She stood, turned, and let her mother drape the heavy thing over her already heavy dress. It was much, much too long on her.

“You’ll grow into it,” her father assured her. “And now I’d like you to meet my gift to you.”

_Meet?_

She didn’t have to wonder long though, she felt her mother’s intense flare of anger and shame just before her father’s pride as he carried the happy toddler with dark gold eyes and black hair just like King Zeus’ into the ball room. He bounced him and Aphrodite felt her own jealousy ignite as her father cooed at the little boy. “This is my son,” he told her. “He turned two just this past summer, and he’s old enough now that he can live away from his mother. And I can raise him as the Prince he’s meant to be.

 _I won’t be Queen_ , she realized, imagining she and her mother out on the street in the Peat-caste’s ugly grey clothes.

“Dione’s agreed to raise him as she has you,” her father carried on, still beaming at the toddler. “Don’t worry, Aphrodite, I’d never be rid of her. She runs things much better than I would.”

“And…and me?” she stammered.

“I intend to keep you as the heir. You’ve been raised to it. You’ve proven yourself perfectly capable of the decorum required and you’re acquiring beauty people desire in a ruler. He stepped up onto the dais and raised the toddler over his head. The child was drooling. _Eeww._ “What I’ve chosen to give you today is a legitimate claim to the throne.” She still didn’t understand. She looked over at her mother, but she wouldn’t look back.

“I’d like today to present Prince Hephaestus to the court,” her father’s voice boomed. Cheers erupted all over the ballroom. “A blood member of the topaz caste, and the next King.”

“But…” Aphrodite struggled to string her confusion into a question. “You just said I was your heir.”

“You are,” Zeus said. “But the people would never find one of questionable birth, as you are, acceptable on her own.” He turned Hephaestus towards her. “That's why Hephaestus is the perfect solution. You and he will both be raised to the role. And he will give you the legitimacy you lack. I know that you’ll love him,” he told Aphrodite. “I declare you both betrothed.”

“Betrothed…” she whispered over the cheers of everyone else present.

“When you’re of age Aphrodite, you’ll marry him.”

She’d be of age in only five years.

“He’d be seven!” she exclaimed.

“Well best to marry early – more time for you both to grow accustomed to the idea. And you can always have a proper ceremony and celebration once he’s of age.”

Proper celebration. Thorunn’s cousin had gotten married that summer. She’d heard enough from the older guardian to understand what proper celebrations at weddings were.

Her mother was tired and still quite ashamed, but she was so, so happy…

“As long as he can dance properly by then,” Aphrodite quipped. She clasped her hands behind her lest her father get any ideas about her wanting to hold the toddler, the _brother_ , she was meant to marry. “Thank you, Father.”

She didn’t speak to anyone for days afterwards. She stayed in her rooms. Her father didn’t notice. She now knew why he spent more days than not away from the Palace.

She often spotted him playing with Hephaestus on the beach through her window. The boy chased away the birds and threw the crabs and snails against the rocks, and her father was _delighted_ by the drooling idiot.

 _Do I have to marry him?_ She thought.

“I know it feels strange now,” her mother consoled her. “But he won’t be a child forever. Nor will you. And you have _years_ to grow to love him, Aphrodite. Most couples don’t even get that.”

“I thought love was something you just _felt_.” She said, turning to look at her mother. “I didn’t have to try to love you, or Venus, or even Queen Serenity or the princess or the guardians. I just… love you all without trying.” She glared out the window as Hephaestus giggled. “I _don’t_ love him.”

Her mother sighed. “I didn’t love your father for the first few years we were married.”

She blinked. And turned to look at her mother properly. _What_?

“We were an arranged match,” she said. “I was beautiful, and he thought I was the brightest girl he’d ever met, and he didn’t think there was anyone else who’d make a better Queen than me.” She picked up the brush and walked behind Aphrodite, beginning to run it through her long hair as she hadn’t in years. “And I knew I’d never get the chance otherwise – for an onyx to marry into the Topaz caste was so rare. I jumped at the chance.” She hummed. “And I didn’t love him for a few years – it took a while to grow accustomed to him. But he loved me from the start and he has always made me happy.”

“He isn’t now,” Aphrodite said.

“Well we’ve reached an agreement of sorts. He still loves me as a Queen though he needs other things – some people do, it is the nature of any marriage. And he knows his chosen goose is dreadful at maths. So he knows she can’t be Queen, and he’s trying to win back my favour.”

“So this is why you don’t sleep in the same rooms anymore,” Aphrodite snarked.

“Oh look on the bright side,” her mother said, the brush still running through her hair. “You still get to be Queen, don’t you? This was the best compromise your father and I could come to.”

She knocked the brush away, glaring at her mother. “You _agreed_ to let him betroth me?”

“I offered!” her mother fired back. “Dear, there’s nothing I want more than to see you be Queen. It is your right! As my daughter and as a guardian. I have seen you work too hard to have you passed over because of our caste’s traditions.” She stepped closer to Aphrodite. “You would have had an arranged match anyways – this, I think is the best one: you can teach Hephaestus to be exactly the kind of man you’d want.”

She felt so hopeful. And her eyes were watering. And Aphrodite didn’t know what to do.

 _Lady_ , she asked, straining to reach her oldest friend. It was harder every year to speak with her planet.

 _Trust yourself,_ Lady said as always.

“Please try,” her mother begged. “I want you to have everything that I have Aphrodite. You could improve this world so much as its Queen.”

She sighed. Lady never had understood human customs well.

“I’ll try,” she muttered.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Hephaestus grew from a toddler into a child before her eyes and once he was old enough to stop drooling on himself, she found him a bit tolerable. She preferred young Serenity _by far_. That child had never tugged anyone’s hair or thrown a crab or kicked sand at the birds.

“Stop it!” she’d hissed to Hephaestus one day when she was twelve and he did just that.

“ _Aphrodite_!” she groaned when her father yelled as soon as Hephaestus began to cry. “Leave him be!”

“He’s hurting them,”

“He doesn’t know better,” her father said.

 _I’m trying to teach him better_ , she thought angrily. But she stormed off instead. She hated fighting with her father about Hephaestus. It always made her tired. And it always made Mother sad. And she felt all out of sorts besides that these days anyways. She was moody. And her face was a mess of gross pimples she couldn’t scratch, and her wing marks _hurt_.

They didn’t fit beneath her tight dresses anymore, which was the only reason she’d been allowed to trade them in for flowing skirts and low cut tops. It was a small comfort. No one had warned her that growing wings were so painful. She could see them when she turned round, barely poking out from the bulges on her back. They were coming in agonizingly slowly. Not even the thought of being able to fly made it better.

She was a mess when she arrived on the Moon. And Thorunn and Areisa were the first ones there to greet her.

“What’s wrong with you?” Thorunn asked when she stepped slowly from the carriage.

“Everything,” Aphrodite groaned. The pants she’d changed into did little to improve her mood. She hadn’t been this bad the summer before, preferring to ignore everything related to Hephaestus. But now he was always at the palace or on the beach and he was the only thing she could think about in addition to how painful these effing wings were.

Then she looked at Areisa. “You’re shorter than me,” she realized. And indeed Areisa was, by an inch.

“Well I’m not in my heels are I?” Areisa said, throwing her beautiful black hair over her shoulder. It was shining the purple colour that always caught her eye in the sun. “What?” Areisa demanded, holding out her hand. “Am I not pretty anymore?”

She’d always greeted Areisa with a kiss on the hand every since meeting her. The Martian princess always blushed, but she had offered her hand to Aphrodite of her own accord last year, just as she was now.

“You’re always pretty,” Aphrodite sighed. “Sorry I’m… just distracted.”

And she lifted Areisa’s hand to her lips and shivered as she imagined that some day Hephaestus might kiss her hand like that. _He’s drooled on me,_ Aphrodite thought. _No way is he_ ever _kissing me_.

When she dropped Areisa’s hand, she wasn’t prepared for the other girl to grab it again, stepping in close to her and wrapping her arm around Aphrodite’s waist. She stood on her toes and rested her head on Aphrodite’s bony shoulder and made her best effort at a hug.

“I think you need a room,” Thorunn murmured.

She squeezed Areisa’s hand and ignored Thorunn’s teasing, resting her head on Areisa’s shoulder and clutching her closer with her other arm.

“They’ll come in this summer,” Areisa whispered to her. “They won’t be painful much longer.”

She sounded like she’s seen it. And her voice sounded as soothing as the Queen’s or her mother’s ever did. _Maybe Areisa’s practiced being nice._ Aphrodite chuckled. And then sniffled, and then couldn’t help crying on Areisa.

“It’s not that,” she muttered. “It’s not that at all.”

When Athena arrived the next day, that was when she finally told them all, they had trained very hard that day and she was feeling a bit better. She’d beat Areisa in a sparring match for the first time ever. She had a strong suspicion Areisa’d let her win. But it had worked; her spirits were up. And before bed, the four of them were all leaning over the balcony together, shoulder to shoulder. And Areisa’d put her extra warm hand over Aphrodite’s sore wing marks and that was helping _some_.

The Earth was gone from the Moon’s sky tonight, making all the stars shine that much brighter. And she was content, and warm, and calm for the first time in ages, with Areisa on her right, Thorunn on her left, and Athena just on Areisa’s other side.

“I’m betrothed,” she whispered to them. “My father had a real kid and betrothed me to him.”

“That sucks,” Areisa said, just as Thorunn frowned.

“What’s betrothed mean?”  
“It’s a form of engagement,” Athena told the Juper princess as Areisa and Aphrodite gaped at her. “Where parents traditionally arrange for their children to marry each other.”

“Well… I mean that’s a lot of responsibility to think about at eleven, but at least they’re your age right? And you love them?”

Aphrodite frowned at Thorunn. “I didn’t… get to chose him. And he’s not my age. He’s three.”

“WHAT?” Thorunn shouted. “That’s… that’s allowed!”

“She’ll probably marry him when he’s older than three,” Areisa said. She looked at Aphrodite. “Do you like him at all?”

“ _Forget that_?” Thorunn said. “Back up to your father is ordering you to marry him! My mother encourages _me_ not to date anyone.”

“It’s different on Jupiter,” Athena said. “Arranged marriages are the way Venus caste system is maintained and the way people rise through it. And they’re still fairly common for Mars more powerful families”

“Gotta keep the strongest blood with the strongest,” Areisa nodded, though she wrinkled her nose. “I’ll end up married to one of my competitors for the throne in any case.” She sighed. “Unless I renounce my claim to it, which,” she scowled. “I’m not keen on _either_.”

“And you’ll really marry him?” Thorunn gaped at Aphrodite.

She nodded. “It’s a peaceful way to keep everyone happy.”

“Everyone, but you,” Athena whispered. “I mean… statistically speaking, Venesien marriages are some of the unhappiest.”

“Thanks, Brains.” She sighed. “I keep thinking if Mother can grow to love Father, I can love Hephaestus. She made a face. “Some day when he doesn’t always feel sticky and doesn’t kick birds and doesn’t put my hair in his mouth.”

“Oh he’s doing romance _all wrong,_ ” Areisa murmured. “I prefer my suitors – who dream of having my head on a spike.”

“Wait, What?” Athena and Thorunn stared at Areisa.

“Actually,” Aphrodite considered. “That might be an improvement on Hephaestus.”

And she didn’t know how, but Areisa had made her laugh.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

She’d been peering at them in the windows of the Moon Palace for a week and a half – the flimsy yellow wing tips that she could move if she just _concentrated_.

They’d unfurl today, she’d known it as soon as she woke up without pain from them for the first time in a year. And just in time – she and the others were going to be leaving for the season in only two more days.

She’d stayed outside after morning practice and Areisa’d quit sparring with her after one match, declaring her useless. So instead she’d waited with Aphrodite in the field overlooking the moat as she watched her wings in the water – able to move them more and more as the day wore on.

Thorunn, Athena, Serenity, and the Queen all came out to have dinner with them in the grass long before the sunset.

It was Serenity who noticed first.

“They’re coming out!” the seven year old squealed in her most delighted voice. And they really were. Aphrodite jumped up and spun and felt them catch the summer breeze. Serenity and her mother grinned and her fellow guardians stared as the wings unfurled behind her.

She could see them from the corner of her eye. They were pale yellow and looked glittery in the sunlight. She shrieked and jumped up, and stayed up, the wings catching the air and moving with barely a thought from her. She screamed once as the breeze knocked her into a cartwheel, but was laughing by the time she’d righted herself.

She could fly. _She could fly_!

“Do you know how to get down?” the Queen shouted up to her. Everyone looked so small. She could see the whole Mare Serenitas.

Could she get down? It took her several tries and another fight with the wind. But she eventually did, stumbling as she hit the ground at a run. She whooped!

“Who wants a ride?” she boasted.

“Me!” Serenity cheered. She was so excited and so small and what if she dropped her? Aphrodite looked at the Queen.

“She’s not flying anyone,” the Queen said, picking Serenity up. “You have to let her practice with them first. Besides,” the Queen tapped Serenity’s nose. “A certain Princess needs a bath.”

“Awww.”

The Queen and princess waved them goodbye and all four of them bowed and waved as they left the field.

As soon as the little moon princess was out of earshot, Thorunn rounded on her.

“I wanna try!” she exclaimed. “I don’t even care if you drop me.”

“ _I won’t_ ,” Aphrodite said, hovering off the ground and startling Thorunn when she swooped in and picked her up under the shoulders. “ _You’re heavy_.” She complained.

Working with the sword all summer had made her stronger and she got Thorunn almost as high as the palace roof, and even soared them around the building, before she lost her grip and dropped her in the moat.

Thorunn hardly cared though, and Athena, once they’d pushed her into trying it, was much lighter and less squirmy. Aphrodite managed to fly her for several minutes before setting her on the ground.

“Those are deceptively strong!” Athena marvelled as soon as they landed. “The propulsion required to lift a person your size let alone two…”

“Is going over my head,” Aphrodite looked at Areisa. “You wanna try?”

“Are you gonna drop me in the moat?” she asked.

“Not if you’re good,” Aphrodite winked. And Areisa blushed. The only time Aphrodite ever had any clue what she was feeling. She wondered why seeing Areisa blush made her feel suddenly like there were butterflies in her stomach.

Areisa turned her back to her and held out her arms and Aphrodite flew up and then swooped in to pick her up off the ground.

Thorunn had whooped and shouted, Athena had filled her whole flight with gasps and exclamations about everything they could see. Areisa, Aphrodite frowned, didn't make a sound.

Two minutes into their flight she began to shiver.

“Are you cold?” Aphrodite asked. And Areisa shook her head. “Scared?” another shake. Aphrodite groaned. “I can’t tell what you’re feeling, you know that right. Do you want to get down.”

“No,” Areisa’s voice was hoarse. _She’s crying_ , Aphrodite realized as she tried to lean towards her, but Areisa turned her face away. “I’m fine,” she muttered. “Keep flying… please.”

So Aphrodite did, all around the palace and over the sea. She even dove down so that Areisa’s sandals skimmed across the surface of the water. It gave her the chance to see her reflection in the sea. She was crying… and grinning.

 _Why?_ Aphrodite thought.

But when she set her down, Areisa rubbed her tears away before the others could see and she glared at Aphrodite. “You nearly dropped me!”

“Did not!” Aphrodite sputtered.

“Did so,”

“Don’t start,” Thorunn groaned. “Or I’ll toss both of you in the moat.”

The last night of their stay, Aphrodite was staring out at the sky when she heard someone walk up behind her and turned. Areisa had slipped into her room.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Aphrodite asked.

“Too many dreams,” Areisa said. She’d been having more and more of them as they aged.

“Any we need to know about?”

“None that I understand.” Areisa bumped shoulders with her and leaned over the balcony with her, staring up at the crescent shape of the Earth in the starry sky. “I don’t want to go home.”

“Why?” Aphrodite asked. But Areisa shook her head. She hadn’t said anything at all about Mars this summer, Aphrodite realized. She sighed. “It’s probably different, but I don’t want to go home either.”

“It is different,” Areisa turned towards her. “Can we… go flying again?”

Aphrodite was already in the air. She grasped Areisa’s hand. “Here,” she said, pulling her up so she stood balanced on the balcony rail. Aphrodite flew up behind her. “Hold on.” Instead of scooping her up by the shoulders, she wrapped Areisa in a hug so her back was pressed flush against Aphrodite, and then hooked her legs around Areisa’s. This way, she was much easier to carry.

“How’s this?” she asked after she’d taken off, flying them higher and higher over the palace. She wanted Areisa to see the entire sea.

“F-fine,” Areisa whispered. She curled her warm hands around Aphrodite’s arms.

They flew so long that Aphrodite saw the sun peeking above the horizon before she realized she was tired. They were far from the palace now. She swooped in towards a set of grassy cliffs that faced the sunrise and set Areisa down before landing.

Areisa, who had not said anything in hours, collapsed in the grass with tear tracks staining her cheeks and a grin on her face.

And then she laughed. Areisa rarely laughed. And it made Aphrodite so happy she might have hovered off the ground. She folded her wings behind her and sprawled out on her stomach beside Areisa, still laughing as she swept her friend’s black hair away from her face.

“Thank you,” Areisa whispered, grabbing Aphrodite’s hand. “That was… amazing.”

“Then why did you cry?” Aphrodite asked.

Areisa thought for a very long time and then closed her eyes. “When we flew… I’d never felt so free.” She looked at Aphrodite. “And… I don’t ever feel that way at home.”

“Why?” Aphrodite whispered.

“I don’t want to say,” Areisa whispered. “I… I can handle it, I promise.”

“Well… you have us if you ever can’t,” Aphrodite said. But Areisa looked like she might withdraw soon, and maybe ask to go back. Aphrodite squeezed her hand. She wasn’t ready to let go. “I don’t ever feel free at home either,” she confessed. She couldn’t believe the summer was over tomorrow. “ _Ugh!_ I have to see Hephaestus in two days.”

She made a dramatically disgusted face that got Areisa to chuckle. “Maybe he won’t drool now,” Areisa teased.

“He’ll still be gross and mean,” Aphrodite scowled. “Mother says I’ll grow to love him but… he’s drooled on me.”

“That is gross,” Areisa agreed. Then she sighed. “But he might be nice when he’s older.”

“The memory would still be there,” Aphrodite shivered. “I can’t believe I have to kiss him someday.”

Areisa nodded. “It’s a weird feeling.” She looked away from Aphrodite and up towards the stars. “I feel that way about my potential matches,” she confessed. “I look at them, and I can’t imagine ever wanting to kiss them… my parents say I’ll feel different when I’m older but…”

“Well what do they know,” Aphrodite scowled.

“A lot, I expect,” Areisa said. “They were matched too… but even the girls they want to match me with… I just don’t like them.”

“At least they give you options,” Aphrodite said. “Do your… choices actually want your head on a spike?”

“One of them wrote me a love poem about it,” Areisa said.

“ _Eeew.”_

“Finally!” Areisa laughed. “Everyone else thought it was romantic.” She sighed. “They say the Moon’s made me soft… I don’t even think they’re wrong.” She looked back at Aphrodite. “I don’t think I’d mind, you know, if I could feel what all the love stories say you’re supposed to first… I want to _like_ my first kiss.”

Her stomach felt full of butterflies again, and Areisa’s face was half-lit by the first rays of the sun, and she had the most ridiculous idea.

“Maybe we can,” she whispered. “I mean… if you want to.”

Areisa sat up then. And Aphrodite followed. “We don’t have to,” she said in a rush. What if Areisa hated her for suggesting it? She _hated_ that she could never know what she was feeling. “It was a dumb idea.” She laughed and shook her head. “Forget…”

Areisa’s hand was on her cheek and she put her other hand over one of Aphrodite’s on the grass. She held completely still as Areisa leaned in.

She’d always liked kissing Areisa’s hand. She’d never imagined being kissed by her would feel so different.

The kiss was quick and warm. When Areisa darted away, her face a furious red, Aphrodite licked her lips.

“You taste good,” she said without thinking. She wondered who was blushing more.

“Did you like it?” Areisa whispered behind the hand she held to her lips.

“Yeah, did you?”

“Yeah…”

They watched each other as the sun rose, barely moving and still holding hands. Aphrodite wondered if Areisa was thinking as many things as she was.

She’d liked kissing her. She wanted to kiss her again.

They were going home tomorrow. She still had to be betrothed to Hephaestus.

And in three years, she had to marry him.

 _This is bad,_ Aphrodite decided.

When she noticed the sky had turned completely blue and not a single star remained. Aphrodite released Areisa’s hand.

“We have to go back,” she sighed.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

By her fifteenth birthday, the tailors were already doing fittings for her wedding dress, despite her protests that it would be a whole year before she has to wear it.

“Well it has to be perfect,” the chief tailor protested. “And you are difficult – none of the traditional colors will look good with your complexion. Or your hair – and certainly not these,” he poked her wing.

“Cut it out!” she snapped. “I can feel those, you know.”

“Sorry,” he shrugged.

She couldn’t even enjoy the flight to The Moon that year, despite the solitude it granted her. All she could think of was the end of the summer: when she’d turn sixteen, and Hephaestus would be seven, and they’d have to officially be married. No chance of her ever getting married to anyone else.

It was always the one with the deeper Topaz caste ties who had the power to sever a marriage. And that was Hephaestus. And that meant that it’d be a whole eight years before he’d even be old enough to make that decision.

She was surer than ever that she didn’t want to marry him. He was impatient, and stubborn, and still threw tantrums, and hated reading, and he smelled like old candy. He was even _sticky_ like old candy.

And Areisa was impatient too, and more stubborn, but she _liked_ those things about Areisa. And Areisa was her age, and smelled like smoke and lavender, and she felt warm and soft.

And Aphrodite liked kissing her. They’d snuck many of them the past two years. She liked kissing Areisa better than she liked just about anything. Except maybe dancing with her. Areisa loved to dance and had never learned how on Mars. So now Aphrodite taught her nearly every night in the summer times: step by step, their hands clasped, and (more often than not) Areisa’s head resting on her shoulder. Often, she flew them up to the top of the palace tallest spire and twirled them round and round.

Because she knew if there was one thing Areisa liked more than Aphrodite, it was quiet nights full of stars.

She’d arrived on the Moon earlier than Areisa for the past two years. So it was a surprise, when she was fifteen, to arrive and learn from Princess Serenity that Areisa was already there.

“And she won’t talk to me,” Serenity pouted. She felt so confused and worried for Areisa “She just trains or stays in her room all the time.”

“Don’t worry, Princess,” Aphrodite said, bowing to her. “I’ll talk to her.”

They didn’t end up talking though – that night, or any other. Aphrodite tried, but all Areisa had to do was kiss her and any ideas of stopping that vanished from her head. She only had a little while longer to kiss her after all. She’d be married nearly as soon as summer ended.

 _Please don’t betray him,_ her mother said in one letter to her that summer. _I know Hephaestus isn’t your first choice. But don’t do what your father did to me._

 _He’s not my choice at all!_ Aphrodite wrote and then scratched out, and then ripped the paper. She shouted and banged her head against her desk.

“Your mother means well,” the Queen consoled her one night when she tucked Serenity in and heard Aphrodite crying in her room. “But they’ve put you in an impossible place here.” She knelt in front of Aphrodite.

“Do I have to marry him?” Aphrodite cried.

She hoped the Queen would say no, but only got a sigh.

“I want to tell you no, you don’t, Aphrodite,” she said. “But Venus…or rather your father, has stated he’s more than willing to pull out of the Silver Alliance if you push against Venus’ customs.”

 _The Silver Alliance_ …

“He’d take Earth’s side,” Aphrodite whispered. “But… but the planets are stronger together! The guardians are a team. They’re _my_ _team_.”

“You’d still be a Guardian,” Serenity consoled her. “You’d still have your team.” She sighed. “But every planet the Earth has makes them stronger, and divides our star system further. That puts all our futures more at risk.”

_The whole future… or my future…_

“You don’t have to marry him,” the Queen said. “I would never say you had to.”

Aphrodite sniffed and wiped her eyes. “What would you do?” she asked.

“It isn’t my choice to make,” Serenity said. She was always so hard to read – a maelstrom of sad, proud, and bittersweet whenever she was around the guardians.

Aphrodite sighed. She’d always been told guardians made hard choices. She never imagined this being one of hers.

“I’ll marry him,” she whispered.

She was stunned when the Queen leaned in to hug her, not usually so affectionate.

“Do not let that stop you from finding love,” she whispered. “If you fall in love, don’t let your parents choices stop you from making yours.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

She was determined after that to commit herself even more to her training as a guardian. The first weeks of the summer she practiced longer and harder than any of the others. And the Queen rewarded her for it.

At the end of June, the Queen came to see her practice with her sword against the best tutor any could hire. She won five bouts, two in under three moves, and hadn’t a single scratch on her. She bowed to the Queen when she saw her and when she rose the Queen was standing before her, an aged leather scabbard in her hands.

“Your tutor says you’ve learned all he can teach you,” the Queen felt so proud. “So it’s time, I think, that you have this again.” And she drew the sword. Aphrodite couldn’t stop staring.

“Moonlight,” she whispered. She remembered the holy sword – heavy in her tiny hands as it had clashed with Nehelenia’s long nails. She shivered.

“I used this myself, very long ago.” Serenity said. “I’ve known since the day it appeared to you that it wasn’t mine anymore. It has proven many times to be capable of extraordinary magic,” the Queen continued. “A potential I have also seen in you.” She pressed the sword into Aphrodite’s hands. It was light! She remembered it being so heavy! “You’ll train with me from now on,” the Queen said.

“I can’t accept this,” Aphrodite said. Surely someone more honourable than her should wield something so precious.

“You can,” the Queen said. “I believe you’re meant to have it.”

So it was that for the rest of the summer she woke at dawn and found herself matching blades with a woman whom she had never known _could_ hold a sword, let along knock her to the ground with one. Yet Queen Serenity was the best swordswoman she’d ever met.

She felt calm with a sword in her hand too, the way Aphrodite felt when she duelled. She began to believe that meant she really was a natural with the weapon and that perhaps she really could be good enough for the Holy Sword.

She thought she’d never see anyone fight better until Sailor Uranus and Neptune came to stay. The delegations arrived at midsummer and nothing had ever distracted Aphrodite and her fellow guardians more. Half the delegates and even Sailor Uranus had wings like Aphrodite’s – though only a few of them had yellow. The rest – including Uranus’ wings were bright, sky blue.

They stayed a whole month, during which time, the four younger guardians broke from their training regimen as they hadn’t since they were small – all in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the fabled guardians of Outer Sol.

“I heard they live in space,” Thorunn said as they hid in the bushes watching the two older guardians fight Martian warlocks. “They don’t ever stay on their home worlds at all. They fly around the Kuiper Belt battling evil.”

“I read that Neptune can see people’s true selves in that mirror,” Athena said. “And Uranus sword can create cyclones.”

“Well my father says Neptune can drown you with a look,” Areisa said.

“I believe him – woah! Look at them!” Thorunn shouted as Neptune created a ball of water the size of the whole moat and Uranus whipped her sword once, turning it into a waterspout. It shredded through the warlocks shields and swallowed them, spitting them out into a tree all the way across the field.

The older guardians watched them too, when they practiced, though they never spoke a word to them.

Of the two, Uranus was the one who most interested Aphrodite – because she was the only other guardian with wings. She moved hers with so much more poise and grace than Aphrodite could. She herself had only just discovered how to keep them tucked in long enough to have a sparring match.

Uranus wings were scarred. None of the others noticed at first, but she’d stared at her own wings long enough to know that whatever had scarred Uranus must have been big, and must have hurt. The blue butterfly wings were jagged around the edges and paler blue had scarred into a large circle on her left wing, spreading out into smaller scars. Had she gotten them in a fight? And fighting what? Had they left her unable to fly?

She admittedly spied on Uranus more than the others, watching Uranus’ sparring matches with Serenity at night and flying after she and Neptune when they soared together over the surface.

She thought they might be together. She’d never been close enough to feel for sure. But the ease with which they moved together and the looks shared between them and _especially_ the way they danced, they must be.

Was it hard: loving a fellow guardian, was what she wanted to know. Could they fight as effectively? Did their worlds approve? Had they been matched, or had they chosen each other. Had they always known?

She lost sight of them one night, halfway between the badlands and the Mare Serenitas, and was turning back, when she felt something cool and point-thin skim the length of her spine. She whipped around.

Uranus was frowning at her, hovering overhead and passing the space sword between her fingers.

“If I were an enemy you’d be dead,” she reprimanded. Her glare was cold. Her feelings a mix of playful teasing and pity and something that made Aphrodite pause: fondness.

“I knew it was you,” Aphrodite bluffed. She hadn’t noticed at all.

Uranus snorted. “That cut on your back says otherwise.”

She twisted around and frowned, there wasn’t a scratch on her.

“Caught you,” Uranus said. “You had no idea.”

“I…” Aphrodite sighed. “No… I’m a bad guardian, okay.”

Uranus snort caught her by surprise. “Not bad – lucky.” Uranus said. “All four of you… doing all your fighting for play and never having to watch your back.” She crossed her arms. “Makes me wonder what’s bothering you so much that you've been following us for weeks.”

“Nothing,”

“Neptune’s mirror’s just as good as your head, kid,” Uranus said. “What do you want?”

She gulped. “I just wanted to know how you felt about each other.”

“Why?” Uranus raised her eyebrows.

“So I could see if it was the same,” Aphrodite confessed. “And… so I could know if I’m making the right choice.”

Uranus smiled and looked up. “My father never gave me the choice to side with or against him,” she said, and Aphrodite winced as she felt the pent up hatred bleeding out of Uranus. “But if he had… and she’d been the price… I’d still have picked her every time.”

“ _And I’d have picked you,”_ a voice that carried on the wind like music met her ears and she saw someone fall from the sky above, landing in Uranus arms and standing on the toes of the other Sailor’s boots. Had she been here the entire time?

“It’s always convenient to have someone around to help with the wind,” Neptune smiled. The breeze whipped around her unnaturally and Aphrodite realized Uranus must somehow be moving it without a word, keeping Neptune aloft.

“I don’t know,” Uranus said. The feeling she felt while looking at Neptune was so bright, Aphrodite could feel nothing else.“Having someone who can help with the water comes in useful very often.”

“And the both of them together,” Neptune said, lacing one hand through Uranus’ and glancing down at the mirror. “Is better than I ever imagined.”

She was crying. She’d never felt any feeling so strong as what Uranus felt for Neptune: years and years of love from the first flutters to its latest confident form woven through each other until the whole feeling was as strong the Silver Crystal’s power that remembered from long ago, when the Queen had sealed Nehelenia away.

“You can stop projecting,” Neptune murmured. “I think she gets it.”

Suddenly the feeling as bright and hot as starlight was gone and she clutched at her chest though it had never been hers. She felt empty, as though a stronger wind than the current breeze might blow her away.

“Does that answer your question?” Uranus asked, feeling now as calm as the eye of a storm.

She nodded, thinking of Areisa, the feeling that was so new and small in comparison to Uranus feelings returned to her swiftly and she held on to it. “Thank you,”

“Can we go now,” Neptune asked, whispering something in Uranus ear that made her feel bright and embarrassed and another feeling that made Aphrodite blush to feel by proxy.

“Sure,” the sky guardian looked at Aphrodite again. “Stop leaving your sword behind,” she chastened. “Practicing with it’s no good if you keep it in your room.”

“O-okay,” she whispered. And they were flying away again, their white uniforms and Uranus sword glinting in the Earth’s blue light.

She saw in the dark – Uranus tilting Neptune’s chin up and kissing her.

 _I can’t marry him_ , Aphrodite realized. _I can’t do it and know that’s the feeling I’m letting go_. She raced back to the Moon palace, soaring right through her window and through the doors out into the hall and only landing once she was banging her fists against the doors of Areisa’s room.

Areisa yanked them open on the fifth knock. “What’s –”

Aphrodite kissed her before her door was even all the way open, and Areisa went along with her, kissing her as fiercely as she ever had. They stumbled back into Areisa’s room and the other guardian turned her and pressed her into one of the walls so hard a painting fell off.

“I love you,” Aphrodite gasped. “I won’t marry Hephaestus – I love you.”

Areisa pulled away instantly. “Don’t,” the Martian princess shook both Aphrodite’s arms and stared intently at her, her purple eyes the most serious Aphrodite had ever seen them. “You can’t love me.”

“Of course I can!” Aphrodite insisted. “Believe me – I do!”

“No I mean you _can’t_.” Areisa released her and put her head in her hands. “You have to marry Hephaestus.”

“I can’t,” Aphrodite said. “I’ll reason with my father… my mother… my people. If they can bring Uranus into the Silver Alliance surely keeping Venus won’t be hard.”

“But you still can’t love me!” Areisa exploded. “It’s… I don’t want you do.”

“Why?” Aphrodite snapped. She tried to read Areisa’s face, but it was as cold and closed to her as ever.

“I just don’t want you to,” Areisa said. “Kissing is fine. I…love kissing you, Aphrodite. But You can’t love me. It’s a bad idea.”

“But _Why?”_ Aphrodite said.

“Ugh! Would you just trust me?” Areisa said. “I can’t love you.”

Her face burned. “ _Fine!”_ she shouted, storming out of the room.

“ _Fine!”_ Areisa echoed as Aphrodite slammed the doors of her own rooms shut and sank down against them. She buried her head in her arms.

“Why do you never tell me what you’re _feeling_ ,” Aphrodite cursed. She slammed her head back against her door and sighed. “I’m still not marrying him.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

She stayed after the summer that year, along with Areisa and Athena and of the three she was the only one whose problems were known to the others, indeed – they were the gossip of the Kingdom. She turned sixteen to a small party, and her favorite present was the hug from Princess Serenity that was uncomplicated and happy and hopeful. She ached for the days her own life had been as simple.

She had an angry letter from her father waiting on her desk that night. She was late. The wedding had been postponed.

She wrote back. She was calling it off, it wasn’t right for she or Hephaestus.

Thus for the next year, she didn’t hear her planet’s voice a single time, or feel her mother’s embrace. All she felt were the blisters on her fingers from long hours scratching out letters to her father, and then new letters when she made spelling mistakes or broke her quills or stabbed through the paper.

Her letters were long, illustrative, and pleading. His replies were curt and always the same.

She didn’t speak to Queen Serenity once about her choice, only hoped every night that it wouldn’t lead to the division the Queen had foretold.

But it wasn’t so. She overheard the meeting between the Queen and her advisors when the Queen cancelled their morning sparring match.

Venus had pulled out of the Silver Alliance.

She transformed and used her own wings to fly there, not even thinking whether they could make the distance. Sailor Venus reached out for the heart of her sturdy, temperate world as soon as she saw the orange crescent of it shining in Sol’s bright light.

She couldn’t hear Lady no matter how hard she thought, and she beat her wings faster as she soared closer, closer, closer…

She circled the massive planet, hovering right over the vast, green-blue expanse of the boiling sea and diving down towards it.

She slammed into something as hard as rock head on and tumbled back into orbit, groaning as her head spun. She blinked away the spots in her eyes and saw, at once, what had hit her.

A golden sheen had coated the upper-most layer of her world’s atmosphere, baring her decent. She tried to breach it twice more and both times was thrown back but the light of the Golden Crystal. She even threw _Venus Love Strike_ , and _Wink Chain Sword_ down against the barrier to no effect.

Heart in her throat, she retreated to Magellan, slamming her fingers too-hard into the computer keys.

There was a message for her.

“Your betrothal is dissolved,” her Father said as he stood before the camera. “You have what you wanted – freedom from Venus’ age old customs and ways that you never could accept. I have realized a guardian that doesn’t represent our values is clearly not one that we need and you have proven it. So, You have what you want, Aphrodite. And I have what I want: I have renounced you. The Earth sought a new trade partner and what they offer is far more than our small place in the Silver Alliance ever did. I had hoped this world was still more important to you than The Moon Kingdom, but clearly that isn’t so. One wonders how you can really be its child if you’d abandon it so, and then he looked off screen. “Your Mother insists she say goodbye – I hope you know what you’ve done to her.”

She was already crying when her mother came on screen. She pressed her fingers to the monitor and wished she could feel her emotions through the screen.

“I’m not sad,” her mother said with a schooled expression. “I’m not even angry, so don’t think either of those things.” She smiled. “I was wrong to push you for so long to be someone you aren’t… I hope you use this as a chance to be who you always wanted to be, even if I can’t be there to see it.” She blew the camera a kiss. “I still love you more than anything, Aphrodite… I hope you’re happy with your choice.”

And then the camera clicked off.

She screamed, collapsing over the console and kneeling on Magellan’s cold tile floor.

“ _Lady_!” she cried out over and over. “ _Lady, Lady?”_

But her world had no answer for her, either the barrier had severed their connection or she was too far away to hear.

She cried and screamed until she was out of tears and only when she began to feel hungry did she grab the console and drag herself to her feet. She stumbled to Magellan’s bronze doors and took flight, closing her eyes until Venus was far behind her.

Halfway to the Moon Kingdom, one of its white carriages pulled by two large, flying horses pulled up alongside her and the door flew open. The Queen was inside and she held her hand out and caught Venus, pulling her into the warm craft.

She went to her knees and dropped her transformation as her shoulders slumped. She bowed her head. “I’m sorry,” she choked out. “I didn’t listen to you and I broke the Alliance, _andimsorry_.”

And suddenly the Queen was kneeling with her and she pulled Aphrodite close. Her warm hand combed through her long, blond hair.

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for, Aphrodite,” the Queen said. “I said it was your choice. And I should have known I could not suggest a Guardian of Love chose something else for herself.”

“I still broke the Alliance,” Aphrodite said as she broke out in sobs. “If evil returns… it’s my fault!”

“It would never have been your fault,” the Queen said, feeling only calm and concerned and not even a little angry. “The Alliance has been fracturing for many years from many forces dark and not, and none of those forces had anything to do with you. Venus was just one of many splits I am still trying to prevent” She pulled back and used her own handkerchief to wipe Aphrodite’s face. “Did you try to return.”

Aphrodite sniffed. “I couldn’t reach her,” she said. “I couldn’t even touch the atmosphere.” She rubbed her forehead. “It still hurts.”

“That blasted book,” the Queen muttered. “It’s alright,” she told Aphrodite. “The pain fades – and you can still transform.” She hugged her. “As long as the guardians are whole the alliance hardly matters.”

Luna and Artemis were waiting when they returned, and the Queen told them they would meet soon. She saw Aphrodite up to bed herself. “Rest,” she said as she closed the curtains so Aphrodite wouldn’t see the Earth through the window. “I’m still trying to reach your father – I’ll let you know what he says later.”

When she slept though, she dreamed of it, of slamming into the golden barrier dividing her from her home and then of watching the ocean dry up and crack, and the cities burn, and the atmosphere flood with poisonous clouds. She felt them swirling up around her, and gasped and choked, until a sharp pain struck her across the cheek. She jolted up, out of the dream and right into Areisa’s arms.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “You were screaming… and crying.” She pulled away and put her hand over the red mark of her palm that was spreading across Aphrodite’s face and wiped away the tears as they appeared. “You’re still crying.” She leaned in then and kissed Aphrodite’s tears. “I’m still learning how to fight crying.”

The bright fire Areisa stoked in her burned away her father’s hurtful words and her guilt over her mother and her planet and the alliance she’d just fractured. She fisted her hands in Areisa’s shirt. As she kissed away her tears, Aphrodite turned her head and caught Areisa’s lips with hers. She wrapped her arms around Areisa as they kissed, falling back onto her bed and pulling Areisa with her. The Martian princess’ top rode up in the back when they fell. Aphrodite slipped her hand beneath the fabric and slid her palm up higher and higher, Areisa’s top being pushed up along with it.

Areisa put a hand on Aphrodite’s chest, holding her back as she leaned away.

“I still can’t love you,” she said. “That’s not what this is.”

“I don’t care,” Aphrodite gasped. “Please … I _need_ you.” She needed to feel more of how she felt for Areisa – more of the bright light that could block the pain of everything else.

And then Areisa’s lips were on hers again and the hand on her chest had trailed to the hem of her shirt. Areisa’s fingers were hot as they pressed into her skin, chasing away the cold, guilt, and sadness until Aphrodite could barely remember feeling it.

She woke up as the sunlight streamed through the curtains and warmed her eyelids. The rest of her felt too cold. She shivered, realizing her skin was bare as it brushed against her sheets.

She gasped and shot up, clutching the blanket close to her chest and blushing as she recalled everything… including Areisa’s whispered words as she’d drifted off to sleep.

_“Stay,” she pleaded, but Areisa kissed Aphrodite’s brow and pulled away._

_“I can’t… I told you: I can’t love you, Aphrodite. Trust me.” She pulled the warmest blanket over her. “I’m sorry…”_

She suddenly felt heavy and colder than she had when she’d arrived the night before. She’d thought it had been okay when Areisa was here and warm and it _felt_ like she loved her.

“Why won’t you stay,” she whispered. And then she was crying again, burying her face in her pillow.

 _You heard what she said,_ Aphrodite chastened herself. _She said it wasn’t love… and you agreed!_ She began to sob.

_I thought she’d realize… I thought she’d stay…_

_I didn’t think it would hurt this much._

As she cried, the doubt began to settle in, and she wondered if this were truly better than giving Areisa up. Surely she could have loved Hephaestus when he were grown. Surely that would have been better than this horrid feeling.

She didn’t even think of her sparring practice, nor of how long she stayed in bed. But eventually it was well into the morning and there was a soft knock on her door.

“Aphrodite,” the Queen’s voice carried through the door. “Are you alright?”

“Uh,” she sniffed and tried to speak but her voice was lost to her, And she needed clothes! She scrambled out of bed, finding a shirt and underthings. That would do. She could surely just pretend she was sick.

She realized only after she’d opened the door that she’d grabbed Areisa’s shirt.

All the Queen had to do was glance once at her messy hair and blotchy face and the red tunic that barely covered her thighs.

“Oh Aphrodite…” she murmured.

“I can… expla,” but the words were broken by another sob.

The Queen had told her just yesterday the team of Guardians needed to be strong… and it felt as though she and Areisa had never been farther apart. And it was her fault.

“I asked her…” Aphrodite tried to explain again. “She didn’t do anything.” She was dizzy from all the crying. Her knees hit the floor and she hung her head for the second time in as many days. She couldn’t do anything right. “She doesn’t love me!”

“Well now this morning makes sense,” the Queen sighed. And then though Aphrodite felt she should have been punished or banished or made to marry Hephaestus anyways the Queen said nothing of the sort. Instead she closed the door of her room, knelt beside her, and put her arms around her, letting Aphrodite cry into her beautiful white gown. “It will get better,” she said to Aphrodite. “I know you feel like you have the worst luck in the world right now, but it will get better.”

 _How?_ Aphrodite hadn’t the strength to ask.

“Tomorrow always comes,” the Queen said. “Whether we want it to or not, tomorrow comes.” She sighed. Aphrodite recognized everything she felt reflected in the Queen’s feelings. “And whether we want it to or not, it does get better.” And suddenly she could feel the monarch’s old pains – numbed after many, many years. And the good feelings tied to them, numbed and faded too.

 _I don’t want loving Areisa to feel numb!_ Aphrodite thought. _How is that better?_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The next day, it was Athena who had to tell her the Martian had left, running off to attend to her duties on her own world. Areisa was away a month, and by the time she returned, Aphrodite was done being angry at her, her desk was full of crumpled and half-finished letters, and she’d decided she didn’t need to talk to Areisa if Areisa didn’t need to talk to her.

The only time they spoke that year was at training, which were limited to Aphrodite giving commands and Areisa following them to a T – no arguments, no suggestions, no criticisms. And it made Aphrodite angrier the more Areisa didn’t challenge her – to the point where she began to fill the silence with angry criticisms of Mars, only to get the same frustrating agreement in return.

Thorunn noticed immediately the next time she came to the Moon to train. They had barely been on the training ground for five minutes before Aphrodite sensed her confusion.

“It’s nothing,” she told Thorunn afterwards, once Areisa’d returned to the palace.

“Since went are _you_ mean to her and since when is _she_ as quiet as a mouse,” Thorunn retorted. “This is not nothing.” She beckoned Athena over. “What did they do?”

“I believe Aphrodite confessed her feelings and Areisa claimed not to return them,” Athena said, her face behind a book. She felt irritated.

So did Aphrodite. “ _Claimed!”_ she fumed. “She said she ‘can’t love me,’ that’s a statement, not a claim.”

“That,” Athena said, snapping the book shut. She was glaring at Aphrodite. “Is well chosen diction. And if you were paying a half-wits amount of attention you’d have noticed. She’s saying she can’t. Not ‘she doesn’t’ which would imply your feelings are unrequited, or ‘won’t’ which would mean she never will. She’s saying ‘can’t,’ wherein she’s trying to tell you one of a few things if I am interpreting the colloquial meaning of ‘can’t’ correctly:

“First, someone’s told her she’s not permitted to love you.

“Second, she’s decided she won’t permit herself to love you.

“Third, she doesn’t feel capable of loving you,” Athena finished. “But all you’re hearing is that she doesn’t love you back. You realize she’s upset too.”

“She is not!” Aphrodite snapped.

“You act like you know,” Athena shook her head. “You get lazy, being able to feel our emotions and giving up when you can’t feel hers.”

“She talks to you?” Aphrodite asked.

“She doesn’t talk to anyone,” Athena said. “I sleep in the room next to hers. I hear her crying. She’s come up with thirteen new swears and twenty-seven combinations of them to call herself since Venus left the Alliance.”

“What did you _do?_ ” Thorunn asked.

“ _I didn’t – ugh!”_ Aphrodite slammed her palm into her face. “I’ll talk to her.”

That night she knocked on Areisa’s door. “I’m sorry,” she told her when she opened it. “I’ve been rude,”

“ _I’m sorry_ ,” Areisa snapped. “I’m the one who…”

Aphrodite shook her head. “I’m the one who didn’t listen to you. And I’m the team leader. I shouldn’t be tearing the team apart because of my feelings.” She held her hand out to Areisa. “I need you to start yelling at me at training again. Tell me my form sucks. Tell me the formation needs work. Tell me when you don’t like something.” She tried to smile. “I still want to be your friend, Areisa.”

She didn’t get a handshake. Instead Areisa threw her arms around Aphrodite’s neck and she stumbled under the strength of the hug.

“Good,” Areisa sniffed. “Because I need you too.”

And before Aphrodite had blinked, she had pulled away, bid her goodnight, and shut her door.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

By the time she’d turned eighteen, things between she and Areisa had improved to nearly normal. Though she devoted nearly all her time to Thorunn now, and Areisa to Athena. And the times they were together, they trained. There was more training now than there had ever been before, Athena could see the sunspots and solar flares acting up across Sol’s surface and Areisa confirmed what the correspondence from Sailor Neptune and from the Queen’s anonymous seer said – that darkness was brewing on Earth. And it would threaten them.

They trained so much that year that she barely paid any mind to Serenity’s crush, though it was obvious. The emotion radiated off the young teenager whenever Aphrodite saw her, and she was always staring dopily up at the sky. “ _What are you smiling about_ ,” she’d asked her once. The innocent, little thirteen-year-old had grinned. She’d simply replied. “ _Nothing.”_

And she let it go for a year – _a whole year_. She heard the girl muttering her love letters to herself through the walls of their adjoined rooms. She’d seen her hide a reply beneath her pillow, and she’d let it go. She’d assumed the Queen knew. Serenity told her mother everything.

She of course didn’t realize until the Princess fourteenth birthday (when she found the letter from _Endymion_ on her desk and realized the princess had been staring at _The Earth_ ) that she’d been a complete and utter idiot.

She and the three other guardians had teleported down to the Princess, guided to her by the Queen’s silver crystal. And just in time to see her in the arms of a tall _older_ boy who wore the armour of an Earthling royal _and_ (Mercury checked the scans twice) the blasted Golden Crystal.

“Get away from her!” she’d shouted, lifting Moonlight into an attack pose and bursting through the trees just as someone else burst into the clearing from the other side.

“Who are you!” a teenager with long white hair was shouting, wielding a broadsword of his own. Her eyes met his.

 _Oh…_ she struggled to focus on Serenity under his gaze.

The Earthling knight felt stunned at the sight of her. Stunned and enraptured as though she were something beautiful. She found herself blushing and as she ushered Serenity behind her, she stared after him.

He pushed Endymion back through the trees and turned. And caught her gaze. He stood and watched their retreat, his emotions warm and adoring and, though she’d never believed in it, like love-at-first-sight.

“Come on Kunzite!” someone shouted. And the teenager at last broke her gaze.

_Kunzite…_

She returned under the power of her own wings later that night, feeling like an idiot as she soared once around Elysion’s foreboding palace and then off to the clearing that Serenity and Endymion had been discovered in.

She waited, and waited, and was about to leave, when she heard the sound of something shuffling through the brush.

“I didn’t dream it,” Kunzite said as he emerged from the trees, sword drawn just like hers. “You really did fly by the palace.”

“A precaution,” Aphrodite said, feeling even more the fool for not being in her guardian form.

“Against what,” Kunzite chuckled.

“Against anyone else making a pass at my Princess,” she said.

“And what if it’s not her they have their eyes on?” he asked. His eyes were warm as they gazed into hers. “You’re very beautiful.”

“I’m the head guardian of the Moon Princess.”

“I’m the head knight of the Earth Prince,” he said. Raising his hands with his sword. “There, see, we have that in common.”

He felt hopeful and curious and still so in love with just the sight of her. _He is very fit_ , she decided.

“I’m also a Duke,” he said. “And I like cooking.”

“Well I’m a… former princess,” she said. “And I like walking on the beach.”

“So do I,” his face was still as wary as her own, but inside he was positively beaming. “And I’m very good with a sword, but I don’t want to fight you.”

“Why not?” she challenged.

“Because I would hate for the first time I meet you to be a violent one,” he said. “And this forest has too much beauty within it to be tarnished by the clashing of blades.” He gestured to the trees. “I would very much like to show it to you.”

He was telling the truth.

They sheathed their blades at the same time. And she left hers beside his inside a hollow tree. She marvelled at the muscles she could feel under his jacket as she linked arms with him.

They walked the forest for an hour, but she didn’t return to The Moon until sunrise.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

She was the most hypocritical Guardian of Love there’d ever been, for sure: restricting Serenity from seeing Endymion and, mere hours later, sneaking down to Earth herself to spend more time in Kunzite’s arms. Oh, but they were such amazing arms. And he was easy to love. They shared the same devotion to their worlds’ royals, the same worries about their capabilities as leaders, and the same fears about the darkness coming.

Best of all, on the nights she dared to stay long enough to sleep in Earth’s lush grasses, Kunzite was always there when she awoke. And she never had to wonder about his feelings or wonder how they affected her team. His feelings for her were always within easy reach, he felt them so openly she mightn’t have needed to use her ability at all.

Regrettably, though she was able to hide it from the Queen, she had less luck with the other Guardians.

“I know what you’re doing.” Areisa said one night when she barged into Aphrodite’s room. “Or I suppose it’s _who_ you’re doing.”

“Who’s none of your business.”

“It is when it’s the head of the Prince’s guard,” Areisa said. “Are you trying to get lured in like the Prince lured Serenity?”

“He didn’t lure her,” Aphrodite said. “Endymion really loves her – and Kunzite loves me.”

“ _There’s darkness on Earth, Aphrodite_!” Areisa shouted. “ _You’re meant to be fighting it not courting it.”_

“There’s nothing dark in Kunzite,” Aphrodite said.

“Then how is it okay for you to go romping around with an Earthing, when it’s not okay for Serenity?”

“She’s fourteen,” Aphrodite said. “I didn’t know anything about love at fourteen.”

“If I recall, you knew a fair bit,” Areisa countered.

Aphrodite snorted. “What are you jealous?” she rounded on Areisa. “I’m not letting this affect Serenity, or the team. And if I feel anything dark in Kunzite, I’ll break it off. Okay,” she leaned back against her desk. She was already in a cross mood feeling Serenity crying in the next room and feeling guilty about it.

“Not okay,” Areisa growled. “It’s a bad idea.”

“I’m the _Guardian of Love_ here,” Aphrodite said, pointing between herself and Areisa. “Love, War. I think I’ll trust _my_ instincts on this.”

“ _I don’t want you to be with him!”_ Areisa finally exploded.

Before she could respond she felt Serenity get angry and heard her yelling in the next room. She and Areisa abandoned their argument just in time to see the Queen run from Serenity in tears.

And Serenity was feeling guilty, mopey, and heartbroken – just like Aphrodite.

The relationship between the Queen and the Princess had never been so strained, but it only drove Aphrodite closer to Kunzite. He wrote poems that elaborated on his feelings in ways that even felt fresh to her, and every touch he left on her skin gave her a warmth in her that lingered hours after she’d bid him goodbye.

Love had never been as uncomplicated as it was with Kunzite. And she’d never felt more beautiful than she did with him.

It was a welcome reprieve from the strained atmosphere on The Moon, But it did mean she tried extra hard to comfort Serenity as the Princess fourteenth year dragged on for all of them. Her sadness affected not just Aphrodite, but the whole of the palace.

Areisa surprised her though. For someone who was always so reticent to show her feelings, the way she consoled Serenity gave Aphrodite pause.

“It will work out,” Areisa said to Serenity one night, looking over at Aphrodite. “If you truly love him… it doesn’t matter what stands in your way. That love will find a way.”

She didn’t like Areisa’s stare, it seemed almost pleading. _She can’t be talking about Kunzite_ , Aphrodite thought.

So when they left the Princess room, Aphrodite dragged Areisa back to hers.

“What are you trying to tell her?” Aphrodite asked. “A few weeks ago you yelled at me for seeing Kunzite, and now it seems like you’re _encouraging_ her to go back to Endymion.”

“Well she’s clearly miserable,” Areisa said. “And I studied all his letters and I’ve seen him in the fire – he’s a very honourable young man. Doesn’t have darkness anywhere near him.”

“Neither does Kunzite – and I’m _finally_ happy.” Aphrodite snapped. “But you still glare at me every time I come back.”

“Well I haven’t told the Queen yet, have I?”

“Which only confuses me _more_!” Aphrodite crossed her arms. “You can’t love me, but you don’t want me to have love. What is your problem?”

“ _I still want you to love me!”_ Areisa said, storming up to her. She was bright red and her fists were held at her sides. “I still _need_ you to love me.”

Aphrodite shook her head. “That’s not fair, Areisa.”

“I know it’s not fair!” Areisa snapped, now very close. “You deserve… the most love… the best love.” And she grabbed Aphrodite’s shoulders and kissed her fiercely. It was so sweet and so strong and she felt so much brighter than she felt even with Kunzite. Areisa broke away quickly. “And I know I _can’t_ give you that.”

“ _Why?”_ Aphrodite pleaded with her.

“I’m too… ugh!” She whirled around and stomped out of Aphrodite’s room, slamming the door behind her.

A month went by, during which she saw Kunzite ten more times, before Areisa left again, summoned away for one of her mysterious missions to Mars.

There was no word from her for months, none that the Queen would tell Aphrodite and her friends anyways. She opted not to visit Kunzite as time passed and Areisa didn’t return, feeling his frustration growing every time he asked her what was wrong and her only response was “nothing.” There was even one night they’d planned to meet that he didn’t appear at all. And she visited Earth everyday for a week torn between worry for him and worry for Areisa before he finally appeared again, haggard, irritated, and worried.

“What’s wrong,” she asked him.

“Nothing,” he responded. And she sighed, that was only fair.

The preparations for Serenity’s Coming of Age ball were getting underway by the time Areisa returned, not through the palace doors, but through Aphrodite’s balcony, leaping up onto it as Sailor Mars and rushing through as Areisa while Aphrodite was in the middle of brushing out her hair.

She had time to register the bruising on Areisa’s neck and hands before she crashed into her in a blur of red clothes and black hair.

“Areisa what…” she murmured, shocked as tears began to soak into her shirt.

“I need you,” she whispered. “You can love him if you want, but right now I need you.”

She smelled entirely of smoke and not a bit like lavender and she was cold and shaky in Aphrodite’s arms.

“What do you need?” Aphrodite asked.

Areisa’s arms cinched tighter around her torso, and she pressed her face into the crook of Aphrodite’s neck.

“Hold me.”

And so she did: until well after the sun had risen. She didn’t ask another question the whole night.

Eventually she chanced a kiss to Areisa’s hair, convincing herself that it was not a betrayal of Kunzite, but something else she could give that Areisa might need.

“I love you,” she whispered when she did. “I’ll always love you.”

Only then did Areisa sleep.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The week before Serenity’s Coming of Age ball arrived and she hadn’t seen Kunzite in weeks. _There’s trouble here_ , he’d written her shortly after Areisa’s return to The Moon. _I am well, I swear my love. I’ll let you know when I can meet you again._ She had to wonder if he knew that Areisa’d spent every night that month in her bed. She didn’t start out there of course. She’d _tried_ sleeping in her own. But all Aphrodite had to do was wait up an hour after they retired to hear Areisa’s sharp knock and then the creak of her door being eased open as the other guardian came in. She’d stopped trying to ask her questions. Areisa’s nightmares answered the gist of them. She talked in her sleep. And whether it was nightmares where she muttered “Princess don’t,” or nightmares where she pleaded with someone: “I don’t want to,” they left Areisa equally unsettled and Aphrodite equally concerned.

She wondered if the dreams Areisa refused to talk about had anything to do with the trouble on Earth and had decided it certainly did when Athena detected something dark emerging above Earth’s northern pole.

“It’s an old Earthling Daimon,” The Queen said. “It wouldn’t ever bother venturing all the way up here.” But she carried her sceptre and the silver crystal with her at all times now.

Word finally came from Kunzite just two days before the ball. _I need to see you_. And she flew right to him, armed with her sword lest he need help with the Daimon on his planet.

She found him in their usual spot in the sacred forest and found his sword already within the hollow tree. _Thank goodness_ , she thought as she de-transformed and set Moonlight down within the hiding spot. _Then there’s nothing to fight._

And then she saw him, between the trees, in his polished plate armour and the tight shirt that hugged his arms and with his hair flashing as white as the stars despite the moonless night.

“You’re okay,” she breathed, soaking in the feeling of his happiness at her appearance. “Oh what happened? I haven’t seen you in _ages_.”

“We were attacked by dark forces,” the knight said. Indeed darkness lingered all around him. “It feels,” he shivered. “Awful.”

“You should be cleansed of it,” she said. “Come with me, please. I know the Queen would permit it just this once, the Silver Crystal could heal you.”

He wrapped his arms tighter around her. He felt unusually angry as he said. “That’s the problem, Aphrodite – the darkness comes from the Moon.”

“ _What_ ,”

“The Queen has always been the reason the darkness is here,” Kunzite said. “And she’s been attacking us.”

“Queen Serenity would _never,”_ Aphrodite insisted. “There’s nothing dark about her… is that why your feud’s carried on so long? Kunzite,” she cupped his face. “You…” she suddenly froze in his arms as her fingers brushed something darker than she’d felt since Nehelenia’s attack on the Moon. “You have a new earring…”

It looked like Obsidian, but was cut as sharply as a diamond – narrow and long. She darted her hand up to tear it off of him.

And his large hand caught hers.

“Don’t,” he told her. “That’s what allows me to see clearly – it makes my powers strong enough to fight the darkness.”

“It _is_ darkness _,”_ she hissed, struggling. “Let me go,”

“No – Aphrodite, listen, you’ve been lied to.”

“No, _You_ listen – Let me go,” she suddenly realized his strength was far greater than normal. His arm felt like stone at her back and his grip on hers as tight as steel. “You’re hurting me.”

“I don’t want to – I just need you to listen.” Kunzite stared. “The Moon’s trying to destroy us, and all who stand with us – Mercury and Venus, it threatens all the inner alliance.

“Is that the rebrand?” she questioned. “To distance them from Silver verses Gold”

“It’s never been about that,” Kunzite said. “We want freedom – the Moon oppresses us.”

“It exists in _peace_. It exists to protect you.”

“That’s the lie the wicked Queen’s fed you,” he said. “Please, Aphrodite. I was away because I was visiting Venus,”

She froze, her struggling ceased.

“I saw your mother,” he continued. “And your father, they’re both distraught. They want you home. It was the Queen’s idea to have them betroth you to Hephaestus. She knew it’d drive you further from them, make them more beholden to the Moon. It’s why they joined us. We gave them protection. When they heard you’d come here they begged me to try to get you home. They can undo the lies that have been fed to you there – you’ll be able to hear your world again, hug your mother, you’ll see reason.”

She hated how sincere he felt. He believed it was true. She hated how she wanted to believe him.

“That’s a lie,” she said, concentrating on her own powers and feelings. “You have to trust me Kunzite _that_ is the lie.”

“Then why don’t you know where you come from, or why you look the way you do. You’re wings are beautiful Aphrodite, haven’t you ever wondered where they come from?”

He was trying another tactic. But it was a good one. She could recognize both things. “The Queen doesn’t know,” she said. “Or if she does, it wasn’t important to tell me.” The Queen had never lied to her. Not that Aphrodite’d ever been able to tell.

 _You can’t do your powers wrong_ , she remembered someone she knew had come from The Moon, who’d very kind and very wise, saying to her. It echoed the same words Venus had always told her: _trust yourself_.

Surely, if the Moon were lying, it would not have told her the same thing.

“You are wrong,” she told Kunzite. “It’s darkness that has lied to you. Please Kunzite – I know you feel differently. I can feel the light in you still,” she tilted her head up towards his and cupped his face in her free hand, feeling him release her other one so he could cup her neck. With both hands, she drew his face to hers. “Please believe me.”

His lips were sweet and the love he felt was real. But so was the anger, she realized to late, as his hand closed around her throat. He batted her hands away from his face and lifted her, pinning her to a tree. Her legs kicked uselessly against his armour.

“I won’t kill you,” he promised. “When you wake up you’ll see the truth as I do.”

 _I won’t betray the Princess!_ she thought as she struggled. _I won’t betray the Queen. I won’t betray Areisa!_

When she’d been small, Nehelenia’s darkness had nearly captured Queen Serenity, and had Mars not intervened, Aphrodite knew the Queen would have succumbed to it.

Would the darkness that had Kunzite now do the same to her?

“ _Mars Piercing Fury!”_

She saw the spear stab through Kunzite’s chest, and felt his pain as it surely punctured his lung. She gasped as his hand released her neck and jumped to her feet, transforming and summoning her sword so she could hold it between herself and him.

She saw Mars drop through the trees behind them.

“I’ll not allow you to manipulate someone who loves so much into believing such terrible lies,” Mars said. “Retreat, Kunzite. Or I will chasten you.”

“Don’t kill him,” Aphrodite coughed. “The silver crystal can heal him.”

Mars clenched her fists, extinguishing the fire in them.

“Come with us,” Aphrodite begged him.

“I can make him come with us,” Mars said

“No… I need him to choose. Kunzite I know you’re still in there,” she stepped closer to him and raised her free hand. “Surely you love me more than what ever Daimon’s seen you?”

He glared, pressing his fist over the wound in his chest, and spit blood at her. “The next time I see you,” he said, sword appearing in his hand. “I’ll kill you.” And in a flurry of rose petals, he had disappeared.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Days later, after Aphrodite’d apologized to her team and to the Queen for as many things as she could think of that she’d done wrong, she found herself on the roof with the first notes of music from the ball room drifting through the air. She hadn’t the time to brood or train until she collapsed as she wanted to do. Serenity’s Coming of Age ball was about to get underway, and she’d come up to the roof the gather some last minute courage.

“He wasn’t your Kunzite anymore,” Areisa said behind her. She sat down beside Aphrodite “I’ve seen that before – it wouldn’t matter how much you loved him – he would still have done what the magic wanted him to do.”

Aphrodite nodded. “I was a terrible leader,” she whispered.

“You were in love,” Areisa shrugged. “Leaders have weaknesses too you know. That’s why they have their teams to knock sense into them when they do.”

“I could have been turned by the darkness,” Aphrodite whispered. “ _I could_ have destroyed everyone here.”

“Overestimating your strength, aren’t you.” Areisa said. “I’m sure the three of us would be able to stop you well before that.”

“Still,” Aphrodite hugged her knees to her chest. “I’ve been messing up for a while now. Loving Kunzite was so easy and I wanted it so much… and today the lies the darkness was trying to use…they would have made everything so much easier. I _wanted_ them to be true.”

“That’s why it hurts so many,” Areisa said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. And you shouldn’t feel bad for wanting love – you deserve love.” She stared out at the Earth. “I won’t kill him, if I see him. We’ll even try to rescue him.”

“Too dangerous,” Aphrodite growled, slamming her fist into the roof.

“You love him,” Areisa whispered. “There’s no better reason to try.”

Aphrodite shook her head. “As the leader, I say, it’s too dangerous.” She looked at Areisa. “Why do you care anyways?”

“I told you,” Areisa said. “You love him – I know he makes you happy, Aphrodite. And I said you deserve love.”

Aphrodite sighed. “He was fun to love…” she said. “But I don’t love him nearly as much as I still love you. I’d never put you or the team in danger for him.”

Areisa was quiet for a very long time, save the scrapping of her bare feet against the roof as she pulled her legs up to her chest. “Please don’t start this again.”

“I’m just confused.” Aphrodite whispered. “You come to my bed to sleep every night. You’re more in sync with me at training than anybody else. You saved me today. You let someone infected with darkness escape because I begged you to. And now you’re offering to risk your life to save him because you want me to be happy.” She put her hand over Areisa’s, who moved hers away. “You say you can’t love me Areisa, but you sure act like you do.”

Areisa sighed and swore. She turned and looked right at Aphrodite “I’m not good enough for you.” She whispered seriously. “You’re so much like Serenity… both of them. You give so much hope and faith and chances.” She looked at her hands. “But I… I have blood on my hands – too much. It makes me sick to think of them touching you.”

“Please tell me, Areisa,” she begged. “What _happened_ to you?”

Areisa sighed. “You’d never look at me the same.”

“I’m looking at you now” she grabbed Areisa’s hand back and laced their fingers together. “Your hands are beautiful.” She lifted Areisa’s hand to her lips as she had when they were young and kissed the back. “All I taste is fire and lavender,” she said. “ No blood. Your hands are beautiful, Areisa. I love them.”

Areisa began to cry. “I miss you,” she said. “I just wish I was different… I could be someone you deserved.”

“You _are_ ,” she insisted. “Don’t think about your hands.” She leaned towards Areisa, placing her own hand over her heart.

“I deserve this,” she said, leaning in and kissing Areisa. “No matter what your hands have done, your heart’s still pure.”

And then Areisa pressed their foreheads together and suddenly she felt something she’d stopped hoping to feel – the bright love, searing in its intensity, and the anxieties woven around it and the fresh confidence that had weakened those anxieties enough for Areisa to show her…

“You feel beautiful too,” Aphrodite marvelled, dark blue eyes wide as they gazed into Areisa’s purple ones. “Could you always do this?”

“Yes – I was only scared of what you’d learn. _”_

She basked in the stunning ability to feel Areisa’s feelings at last, wishing there was some way she could feel hers just the same.

 _I’ll make sure you never think you’re not good enough again_ , Aphrodite promised herself. _And I’ll be the one who bloodies her hands. So you never have to._

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

 _We’re almost home,_ Aphrodite promised herself and Areisa, who was still unconscious in her arms. She’d de-transformed into the strangest clothes – temple robes, she knew somehow, though they looked nothing like temple robes.

Her mind circled back to the strange Serenity-like senshi she’d run from after battling the dark creature. And she kept considering that word to. Senshi. It was not her word. But it meant the same thing that her word had.

Venus was whole and clear in her sight, and Magellan too off to the side, when she realized she wasn’t thinking in her old tongue either, but in this new one, where Senshi came from. Where Areisa’s temple robes came from.

 _That is why I know I can return home_ , she realized. _I already have in this new life…_

 _New life_.

“Mina,” she felt her heart skip a beat when Areisa’s voice rasped out her name. Yes, that was her name. Of course she remembered. She struggled to slot the plethora of old memories in with the new. Aphrodite. Minako. Aphrodite. Minako.

Areisa. And…

“Rei,” she beamed at her when her eyes finally blinked open.

“Where,” Rei cleared her throat. “Where are we going?”

 _Home_. A freshly remembered part of her declared.

Venus glowed the same intensity as the Moon had after Serenity’s awakening – too bright for any of the sunspots to dig beneath its surface.

“Somewhere safe,” she answered, picking up speed as she flew them beneath the rich atmosphere.

~ _Á Suivre~_


	10. The Reborn World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't my best admittedly because I wrote it amid an exhaustively long weekend containing a move, a ten hour train journey and (on top of those) i was sick all weekend. Still not quite better so I apologize that this is late and probably mistake ridden. XD I'll edit it before chapter 11 comes out next weekend.  
> But ENJOY! I still don't own Sailor Moon. XD

**The Reborn World**

_Mina_ … Kara thought, raising the telescope to her eye again.

She'd been up on the roof since it got dark, when Mum and Dad had turned on the evening news. All they could talk about were the Sailors and the daring footage taken at Hikawa Shrine that afternoon. They'd played all the way through the battle. Kara'd left as soon as she'd heard Mina scream for Rei. She'd only been able to hear it once before retreating to the roof, feeling sick.

She scanned the sky again. The news had been speculating that's where they were – out in space… trying to find Rei. She could see the stars really well tonight, but – Kara sighed – no sign of her sister.

She heard something creak and turned, There was Artemis, hopping off the gutter and up onto the shingles. He smiled as he walked up to her.

"They won," Artemis said, and he hopped up onto her shoulder just like he did with Mina. He was so warm and soft. It was really comforting to hear him purr. "And they've found Rei." He flicked her nose with his tail and she smiled a little, reaching up to scratch his head. "I'm sorry you had to see that on the television."

"Is it always that bad?" Kara whispered. "Were you there, was it as bad as it looked on TV?"

"I was there," Artemis sighed. "You actually saw me on camera. They thankfully didn't catch my transformation."

"You were the man who kept her back!" Kara realized. "So you're really a human?" Kara asked.

"No," Artemis scoffed. "I'm from Mau."

"Where's that?"

"Very far away," Artemis said looking back up at the stars with her.

She shivered, Artemis was making her shoulders warm, but that meant the rest of her felt cold. She drew her knees up to her chest. "So Mina's alright."

"Well… yes." Artemis said. "It was a tough battle," he began and Kara gulped. _That means there's something bad…_

"What happened to Mina?" she whispered.

Artemis sighed. "I don't know, yet – only that she's okay."

Kara shivered again, though not from the cold. She picked up the telescope one more time and scanned across the sky, gasping as a cloud shifted to reveal a bright, orange planet.

"That's Venus!" she exclaimed, checking again.

"Where?"

"No the planet – see!" and she held the telescope for him before moving it back to her own face. Venus was so bright – like a giant star! It almost hurt her eyes. "The moon looked like this when it grew all those plants and oceans," Kara breathed. "Did Mina do that?"

"She almost definitely did."

As she watched the bright orange planet, something else of the same color streaked across the telescope's field of view – like a very small, orange comet. Kara gaped. Had that been Mina?

"Like Shingo's…" she heard Artemis mutter.

"What?" she said. And it was as she took the telescope away from her face that she saw what he had.

It was hard to see – the moon was partially obscured by clouds – but she could still make out the darker mark on her pale skin. She traced it out with her finger: a Venus symbol.

Shingo'd said he and his parents had found crescent Moons on their wrists right after the Moon had reawakened.

"Don't tell your sister yet," Artemis cautioned. "We're not sure what they mean."

"This is so cool," Kara whispered, her voice rising to a shriek by the last word. Then she gasped.

"What?"

"Mom's gonna flip," Kara worried, scrambling across the roof to her sister's window. She'd never tease her sister about having so much make-up ever again. "Come on! I have to hide it," she said, and Artemis hopped off her shoulder to help her pry the window open.

She'd just got the cover-up to look right when she heard her mother shriek and something in the kitchen shatter " _What the hell is this?"_ Artemis and she traded glances. As Hikari called: " _Kara!"_

"Coming!" she shouted back, glancing back out the window. The orange planet was still as bright as ever.

 _I hope you're okay,_ Kara thought as she ran to see what her mother wanted.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

" _You were right, Sailor Moon,"_ Luna's voice announced as her grainy image popped up on the old monitors of Castle Magellan's computers. All the senshi around the room relaxed. " _Aphrodite's just passed the Earth… she's on course for Venus just as you thought."_

"I can see her now," Mercury added, peering out Magellan's high, narrow windows with her visor.

"Thank you, Luna," Sailor Moon said. "And the asteroid?"

" _Still analysing the data Mercury sent,_ " Luna said. " _But it appears no trace of whatever you encountered remains."_

"At least we know Venus can wreck it," Jupiter muttered, sparks of static zipping through her hair.

"Don't be too confident," Uranus shook her head. "We'd have been sitting ducks without her. The sunspots alone nearly defeated us."

"But it retreated," Chibi Moon said. "So it knows we're stronger. It doesn't stand a chance."

"Or it underestimated us," Neptune said. "It may not want to reveal all its cards too early."

"And it's probably gone to regroup," Uranus continued.

"Then if it has, we'll need to regroup ourselves," Pluto advised. "Sailor Moon," she said. "Aphrodite may still be confused when she returns, it might be best to meet her as someone Aphrodite and Minako are familiar with."

"Right," Sailor Moon said, and she closed her eyes, and in a flash of bright, white light, she was Neo Queen Serenity.

"Still not used to that," Chibi Moon muttered to Saturn. She'd thought it had been at least a few more years before Usagi had become the Queen. Perhaps that part of her bedtime stories had simply referred to the coronation. _I wonder what else I think I know about the future that's wrong_ , she thought. _Was I really so childish that they let me believe bedtime stories for 900 years?_

"She's approaching the atmosphere," Mercury said, watching Aphrodite as she hesitated a moment, she saw her reach out her hand towards the place where the first specs of gas formed the edge of Venus atmosphere and then the Princess grinned before diving beneath it. _I wonder how much of her is Minako right now_? She thought, but didn't say aloud.

"Don't worry, They'll be okay," Neo Queen Serenity said, her wings unfurling behind her as she walked to Magellan's bronze doors.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

"They won't get to us here," Aphrodite assured Rei as she soared down towards the beach. _At least I don't think so._

"Think so?" Rei murmured, lifting her head from Aphrodite's shoulder to stare at her. It took far too much effort. Rei tried to focus on her, but her attention was divided, most of it focused inward, on her magic, flickering like a candle flame.

"Lady says she's awake enough to banish those things now," Aphrodite said, realizing only afterwards that she'd automatically adjusted the movement of her wings to avoid the powerful jet stream directing what remained of Venus heavy clouds. Flying felt so strange to her new self. She pushed back the urge to question what name to call herself right now – as she felt both like Aphrodite and Minako. _There's more important things to think about,_ she reminded herself. She let her gaze linger on Rei, who'd been waking up for brief intervals since they'd passed by the Earth. Then she dragged her attention back to the skies, to check that no acid clouds remained in her path. But they seemed to be sparse, most having returned to their normal composition. And the full cloud-cover had cleared somehow – perhaps because she'd gained her powers back.

 _I can't believe I hurt it_ , she thought of the snake. _I was never that powerful_.

"M'be you didn't live long enough… to get this powerful," Rei murmured. "You never got an eternal form. It's your potential you unlocked… in this life you were strong enough to re… alize it."

"Maybe – hey wait," Aphrodite realized, staring at Rei as she directed them towards the beach of the Boiling Sea. _You can read my mind?_ She thought.

"You're holding on to the connection I made… very tightly," Rei rasped. "Sorry I can't… respond the same. I'm…"

"Don't worry about it," she said, flapping her wings to slow them down as they neared the sand. "I didn't even realize… I can let it go." But both personas in her who were still trying to merge into a cohesive person railed against that idea.

So did Rei. "No, don't!" Rei said, trying to sit up in her arms and wincing as she did. "I don't want you to go." Venus' power was blinding compared to what remained of her own, and her presence had been what had pulled her back to consciousness at all. She felt twice as much it seemed – everything Mina had ever felt for her and everything Aphrodite had, Rei held the feelings close as she struggled to stay awake. It warmed her and filled her with strength she didn't have on her own.

And the love was so opposite to what she had felt in the daimon's grasp, she shivered, like everything she was would be torn apart until she was nothing at all.

 _I won't go,_ Aphrodite-Mina promised.

She felt the air rushing around them still and looked away from Aphrodite, taking in the vast green-blue sea sparkling before them, a geyser at its center shooting up a constant stream of iridescent, orange droplets.

"It's so good to be home," Aphrodite breathed and then closed her eyes.

She found her connection to Lady instantly, seeking out the heart of the planet Venus in search of anything related to their new enemy.

 _There was darkness growing here,_ Lady informed her. _But when you woke me up I was able to banish it. I feel none on my surface either, though they may still return there._

 _So we're safe then?_ she thought.

 _Yes, and a friend is coming down as well, my Guardian_.

"Aphrodite," she heard Serenity behind her. She whipped around.

"My Queen," she said, bowing only her head as she still held Rei, who had also turned her head towards Serenity.

"Do you remember me?" Serenity asked.

"Of course," Aphrodite said, frowning. "You're the Queen of The Moon Kin…" But she was not. Her eyes were the deeper blue of Earth's oceans, her hair the Princess' blond color.

And she felt different too: happy where the Queen had been eternally sad, open where the Queen had been withdrawn.

 _She's the Neo Queen_ , the part of her that had lived a new life recalled. _She's realized her potential just like you._

Aphrodite. Minako. Areisa. Rei. Serenity and…

"Usagi," Aphrodite recalled, feeling her dear friend's overwhelming relief as Serenity rushed towards she and Rei, teary eyed.

"She remembers," Rei whispered as Serenity hugged the both of them. "Jus' being dramatic."

"And you're okay!" Serenity exclaimed.

"Mhmm," Rei sighed, closing her eyes again. She felt so _tired_.

"Her power's weak," Aphrodite said. "None of me knows what that thing was."

"Neither do we," Serenity said, wiping a tear out of Aphrodite's eyes. "But they can all come down here and we'll figure it out."

Jupiter. Mercury. Uranus. Neptune.

_And Pluto. And Saturn. And… Chibi Moon._

"Yes," Aphrodite said, and glanced down at Rei. She was asleep again. "But she should rest first." She turned towards the citadel at her back, the marble freshly polished and the rust gone from the windows and doors.

"Here," Serenity said, noticing Aphrodite's arms shaking. She was probably exhausted from flying with Rei so long. "I've got her." and with an ease that Aphrodite found surprising, but Minako did not, the Serenity that Aphrodite remembered as a powerless child had transferred Rei to her arms. They flashed silver for a moment, and when it had gone, some color had returned to Rei's cheeks, the scratches on her body had vanished, and a smile had returned to her face.

 _She truly can command its power as easily as the old Queen,_ Aphrodite thought, and again, her new self hardly felt surprised.

"This way," she said, taking her first steps in over a thousand years towards the home she had once grown up in.

It was once they had reached Aphrodite's room and Rei was settled in her bed with her head resting in Aphrodite's lap that Serenity tapped her earring and told their friends they could teleport down.

Her most recent memories from both her lives being of battle, Aphrodite nearly cried when they all appeared alive, along with three sailors she'd never known in the Silver Millennium. And though they were all confused, and battle weary, and even scared, they were overwhelmingly happy to see her.

As Chibi Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter rushed to sit around Aphrodite and Rei, Neptune stumbled, the rush of fatigue that hit her as the teleport faded made her vision blur. She covered the near faint by grabbing Uranus arm and leaning into her.

Unfortunately, the motion didn't disguise her sudden weakness from any of the people she was trying to fool.

"Alright?" Uranus asked as she tugged Neptune close. She looked over at Pluto who was frowning

"Fine," Neptune lied, struggling to hold her senshi form. She berated herself for being so out of practice handling such challenging battles.

"Here," the Princess that Serenity had been calling Aphrodite gestured to the end of her large, shell-shaped bed. "Sit down." Beside her, Mercury was leaning over Rei, eyes darting furiously between her computer and the readings on her visor.

"You remember us… right?" Saturn asked as she sat down in front of Neptune, leaning into the hug from her as Chibi Moon scrambled to sit in front of Pluto.

"Yes," Aphrodite sighed. She looked at Serenity. "Is it this hard for you?"

"No," she said. "But I've been able to connect with my past self… well partially, for a lot longer. And I didn't live nearly so many years as you did."

"You'll get a handle on it," Jupiter said, reaching around Mercury to clap Aphrodite on the shoulder.

"I'm sure," and then she looked to Pluto. "That enemy…"

"Has truly disappeared," Pluto said, attention still focused on Neptune, who had leaned her head down onto Uranus' shoulder. "Whatever portal it opened led to nowhere, as far as my powers could tell."

"I can confirm," Mercury said, still typing away on the computer. "The only matter around it was the stellar energy in those sunspots – and even that was heavily mixed in with the darkness, it was hard to get a reading. As for Rei…"

"What about me?" Rei whispered as the Mercury computer began to beep.

"You're… fine?" Mercury frowned. "You're power's been drained significantly, but it should return with rest."

"That's good," Aphrodite sighed, still unsettled by the lack of a Sailor symbol on Rei's forehead. _That's normal for us in this life… but_ "Her symbol still appeared on than snake."

"Just like the others," Rei added. "Those symbols on its body really were Sailors'." She shivered and Aphrodite squeezed her shoulders as both Jupiter and Serenity reached out and clasped her hands. "They felt like they'd been there a long time…"

"Likely since the last time whatever that was entered our realm," Pluto mused.

"Did you notice anything else about it?" Uranus pressed.

But Rei looked away. "I don't remember," she said, struggling with the exhaustion that was dragging her back into sleep. "Just…"

"You don't have to think about it right now," Aphrodite told her, combing her fingers through Rei's hair. "Just rest."

"The sunspots are coming from our planets…" she muttered as she drifted off again.

"I wonder if that's what Helios noticed," Mercury whispered after a few minutes. "He said there was darkness in the Earth – could that be the sunspots?"

"Would explain how they just appeared out of nowhere the other day," Jupiter growled, clenching her fist. "Why are they there?"

"The might need the planets to grow stronger," Aphrodite said. "Before I awoke her there was darkness in Venus too, leeching off her power so it could multiply."

"That means if they really are, somehow, Sailors," Neptune reasoned, "They won't be any less powerful even if they're divided up."

"So until the rest of our powers wake up they'll still be there no matter how many we kill," Jupiter frowned.

"Well, Venus is clear now," Aphrodite said. "I think our main concern is Earth – there is no Sailor to awaken it except," she nodded to Chibi Moon, "Maybe you."

"Can I?" she asked, turning around so she could look up at Pluto.

But Pluto was frowning, shaking her head. "I'm… not sure if you do or not. The Earth is much stronger when Crystal Tokyo exists, but…" She bit her lip. It was now impossible to guarantee anything to them. "I don't know."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Serenity said. "In the meanwhile it has all of us to protect it."

"So they can attack whenever they fancy and we can only react," Aphrodite scowled. "We'll be sitting ducks!"

"Not forever," Mercury said. "I'm still working on a way to track them. I should be able to set up an early warning at the command center soon."

"Not soon enough." Aphrodite looked down at Rei. "How long will it take for her to recover?"

"I can't say," Mercury said. "Maybe a few days, maybe weeks. She's got injuries that will be a lot slower to heal until her power's back to full strength."

"She likely won't be able to transform until then," Pluto added.

Aphrodite nodded, eyes never leaving Rei. "I'll stay here with her until she recovers."

"Alone?" nearly all of them chorused together.

Except Serenity.

"She's right," Serenity sighed, smoothing her thumb across the back of Rei's hand. "Earth is the target right now. And we already know the sunspots can find our homes." She looked at Aphrodite. "And you can fight them."

"I can kill them," she assured her. "And Lady's already checked, whichever ones were trying to grow within Venus have fled. She'll know – and I'll know – the second they try to come back if they do attack us." She tapped her communicator. "And I know you'd all be here in a second."

"It does seem like a safer option for now," Pluto decided.

"Don't fight them on your own," Uranus warned.

"I won't," she promised, eyes flicking down to Rei again, who looked calm, but felt like she was having a nightmare. "Besides… I don't trust myself near the cameras right now."

"Neither do I," Jupiter echoed.

"Nor I; they'll get an earful if I see them," Neptune said. "They might not have caught us so by surprise if the press hadn't had her in the paper all week, and if she hadn't saved those idiot reporters," she sighed and shook her head. "Not that they'll recognize that."

"Then I'll make them," Aphrodite whispered. "Somehow…"

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

They had no sooner teleported back to Lunar command than Michiru lost control of her transformation, collapsing fully onto Uranus with no way to pass it off as a need for comfort.

"Michiru!" Uranus said as she propped her up, Pluto and Saturn rushed to them as the others de-transformed before all present noticed their dilemma.

"I'm fine," Michiru insisted, yawning as she straightened up, still leaning heavily on Uranus. "I'm just…tired."

"I'm tired," Saturn said. "You look like you're gonna pass out."

"I'm probably just sick," Michiru insisted. "Don't worr –" but she was cut off as she yawned again.

"I think we should all rest," Usagi said, picking up Chibiusa who was yawning herself. The pink haired girl linked her arms tight around Usagi's neck and was asleep almost instantly.

"You get her home," Ami said. "Makoto and I will talk to Rei's grandfather,"

"Hope he hasn't been watching the news," Uranus muttered. She glanced at Michiru again. "I can drop you off at home first."

"No," Michiru said instantly. "You'll need someone to complain to on the drive home."

"That is a certainty," Pluto nodded, looking down at Saturn and sighing. "I can talk to your father," she said. "If you want to stay with us tonight."

Saturn shrugged, de-transforming as Pluto did. "I'll stay with him," Hotaru made a face. "He'll just make more trouble for you guys if you don't bring me back tonight… and I bet he's worried."

Michiru ruffled her hair. "You're being very mature about all this," she murmured. "I promise we'll all keep working together to make it easier for you to spend time with all of us."

After they had parted, Uranus sighed, becoming Haruka again in a flash of yellow light and fishing her keys out of her pocket. "She knows it's not us that's the problem," she complained. "It's Tomoe who can't share."

"Well considering we put her in life threatening situ…ations on a… fairly regular basis," Michiru said between yawns. "Its not hard to imagine why."

"You're going to make me carry you up to the house aren't you."

"That would be nice," Michiru murmured as they found the Porsche, and Haruka held open the car door for her. "But I'm not going home early. You'll need the company."

"I can handle it," Haruka defended herself, turning the car's engine on. "Dealing with stupid parents is sort of my specialty now," she muttered as she pulled the car out onto the road, heading for another part of Juuban and a conversation with a parent she'd been itching to meet for a while now.

It took only ten minutes to reach the Ainos home, and in that time she'd seen the battle at Hikawa shrine and the battle at the TV tower plastered across every screen they'd passed by. And still, this late at night, there were crowds of people watching it.

The lights were lit on the ground floor and in Minako's room when Haruka pulled in the driveway. She glanced at Michiru and shook her head, torn between worry and wanting to smile at her girlfriend, who'd fallen asleep against the window.

 _You shouldn't be this tired,_ Haruka worried. _Does this relate to what Pluto needs to tell me?_ But she forced the thoughts back as she approached the front door. It swung open before she reached the stoop.

"Where's Mina?" Hikari Aino demanded.

"Resting," Haruka said. "She had a very difficult day."

"I saw – one second some dark… thing nearly kills a crowd of journalistic professionals and the next my daughter's disappeared with the rest of you and left a whole concert behind."

"She also saved someone's life." Haruka said. "I'm sure the concert can issue refunds."

"Is she hurt?"

"No," Haruka said. "But it was better for her to stay somewhere else tonight rather than here – because of the cameras." She tried and failed not to glare at Hikari. "She's dealing with too much else to face them right now."

"Oh…isn't that just like the lot of you making her devote all her time to this fighting business instead of her normal life – If you'd just let me see her I'd make her feel better."

"You haven't possibly got the imagination to handle what she's dealing with." Haruka smirked. Minako might yell at her later. That was fine. Someone needed to knock Hikari down a peg from what she'd been hearing.

"She needs stability and normal things. She needs to remember who she is."

She tried very hard not to chuckle at the irony and very nearly succeeded. Nearly. "She knows who she is, but she needs a break from all your publicity stunts right now." Haruka said. "She's tired. She doesn't need normalcy right now – at least not your version of it."

"She won't ever be able to have a normal life again if she spends so much time with the lot of you that she forgets how," Hikari seethed. "She was a star – and this has ruined that."

 _This or you_? But this time she held her tongue.

"She'll be back as soon as she's ready," Haruka said. "I'd cancel all her appearances for the next few weeks though."

" _Weeks_!"

"And," she added, sticking her foot in the door as Hikari tried to slam it. "I don't like your talk about her needing to be normal – she's herself. All you're doing is stressing her out to the point that it's preventing her from enjoying the life she has."

"Get away from my home," she glared at Haruka.

She considered Hikari's glaring for one more moment before shrugging. "My parents were a lot like you about different things. I don't know if they'd change the way they acted now – haven't seen them in years." She met Hikari's eyes one more time. "It only hurts both of you in the end." And with that she removed her foot from the door and was halfway back to the car before she heard Hikari screech and slam it shut.

 _Maybe I got through_ , Haruka hoped. _Or maybe I made it worse…_ She sighed and threw the car into reverse. She glanced at Michiru – still asleep. _It was worth a shot._

She was just pulling out onto the road when someone small jumped over the garden wall and yelped as she landed awkwardly, scrapping her knees.

"Wait!" the small person cried out, and she stopped the car as they scrambled up to the convertible and leaned through the window.

"You're…Kara," Haruka realized.

"Is Mina okay?" the girl demanded.

Haruka smiled. "She's fine," she said, noticing the tear stains on Kara's face. "She got the bad guy good."

"Really?" Kara frowned. "Are you just saying that like Artemis does?"

"No I actually mean it," Haruka chuckled.

"How do I know?"

"Cause I can't lie to kids – you make me feel too guilty," Haruka replied. "I swear: it was a tough fight, but she's fine. Saved us all, actually, and she's away right now cause she's protecting someone else."

"Oh…well that's okay." Kara took a good look at Haruka and Michiru. "Can I see her?"

 _Not the face,_ Haruka looked away towards the dashboard. _Hotaru makes that face_ …

"Sorry, kiddo." She said. "You'll see her when she comes home."

"When will…"

" _Kara!"_ The front door slammed open and Haruka saw two silhouettes in it: Hideki and Hikari. "Get in here this instant!"

"Better go," Haruka told her as Kara whined and hopped off of the car door. "Say it was my fault."

"Tell Mina I said hi!" Kara called as Haruka sped away.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Setsuna threw the car into park with an ease she was coming to hate. She'd driven far too much of late. She missed the days when the three of them and Hotaru would go on drives together and she'd get to relax while Haruka drove.

Mr. Tomoe had been endlessly pleasant and kind to Hotaru's face when she'd dropped her off, but the second the two of them had ensured she was tucked in and said goodnight to, his demeanour had changed.

"She was at the TV tower – doing battle with those _things_!" Tomoe exploded. "And she's dead on her feet. I can't believe you would put her on the front line!"

"She is a very strong senshi," Setsuna told him. "We keep her back as much as we can, but sometimes she's needed."

"She could have died."

"So could all of us, Mr. Tomoe," Setsuna tried to reason with him. "We do our best to protect her."

"From the nightmares she pretends she doesn't have you clearly don't do enough," Tomoe told her.

"Those are mostly prophe –"

"I should never have let her go with you back then," he said. "You were quite intimidating – dressed like you were ready for battle and claiming my daughter becoming a senshi again was something on which the whole future hung in the balance." He shook his head. "Go home, Sailor Pluto. I'd ask that you tell me the next time you drag my daughter out to fight aliens in deep space, but I know she'd follow you regardless." He glared at her. "If anything ever, _ever_ happens to her."

"I'd stop time before it happened," she insisted. "I will never let anything happen to her."

"Hmm,"

"And for the dreams," Setsuna offered. "She likes,"

"Hot chocolate with peppermint – I know." He huffed. "I am her father."

He'd closed the door on her then, and Setsuna'd shuffled back to the car wishing being seen with Haruka and Michiru wasn't liable to reveal her own identity.

 _Michiru_ … she pondered as she hurried towards the elevator in their building. Haruka and Michiru's car was already parked. She needed to see them.

Hotaru'd said something strange in the car. Michiru's energy was weird. "I thought it was Rei at first… but I still felt it when we got home." But her baby'd been too tired to riddle out what sort of weird it was.

" _I'm keeping an eye on her, Hotaru,_ "she'd promised. _"I don't want you to worry about Michiru-mama."_ She felt she was doing more than enough worrying for all four of them.

She took a detour before going up to the penthouse – and spent longer than Haruka and Michiru would have considered healthy in the time dimension, going over Michiru's timeline with an eye to every grain of sand and whisp of fog that formed it. Her present seemed to be resolving itself as usual, a startling thing when it seemed to appear out of the sands and fog without any future to wind towards.

Haruka was still a bit blurred. Hotaru more so than usual as well. She even broke one of her self-imposed rules and glanced at her own timeline – stable, but blurred as Haruka's was. _Likely because all of us are so close to Michiru_. She looked away when she saw herself possibly kissing Haruka next week. _I won't let that happen. I don't care how I feel – I won't cause that division_ , she thought. She quickly banished her own timeline and tried to search for whatever strange energy Hotaru had sensed, but all it got her was a headache.

When the equivalence of two days had passed by with no breakthroughs and no further clues, she opened the time doors back on the night she had left and sighed as she de-transformed, chucking the car keys into their bowl and stepping out of her shoes as she walked through the foray. It was still fairly early by their standards. She hoped Michiru and Haruka would be awake.

Setsuna looked up when she stepped out into the living room and heard the television on. Only Haruka was sitting on the couch. The television was playing a football game that she wasn't watching. Rather, she had her head bowed, and was staring at her hands (which she had clasped before her, wringing them as she did when she was thinking).

 _Not now_ , she thought as she approached. _I wanted to have something more to tell her._

"She's asleep already?" Setsuna asked stopping near the couch and crossing her arms in front of her. Haruka never liked mysteries, and she knew she'd like mysteries about Michiru even less,

Especially as, given Hotaru had noticed something strange today, Haruka was the last to know.

"Carried her in the door," Haruka said, shutting off the game and glancing between Setsuna and the couch. "What's going on?" she asked patting the seat beside her.

Setsuna closed her eyes. If she sat down Haruka would put her arm around her shoulders, which would, as always, be well worth the immense amount of guilt she felt over enjoying it so much.

But if she told her about Michiru… Haruka would take that arm away. And that would feel awful. She'd probably even stand up. She'd pace. And once she had a full handle on the situation, she would doubtless run to Michiru and that would leave Setsuna, alone, on a cold couch, without anyone.

Better not to sit down. She did make herself look at Haruka as she told her. _I am not so cowardly that I can't look her in the eye as I give her bad news._

"Michiru's future has disappeared," Setsuna said quickly.

Haruka straightened up on the couch, and her face frozen in a shocked expression.

Soon she'd bluster about, ask questions with answers she couldn't know or didn't understand, and then she'd leave.

Setsuna carried on anyways. "Her present's fine. Her past, too. There's no anomalies in her timeline. I'm keeping a very close eye on her," she insisted and then hung her head. She couldn't look at Haruka's shocked face anymore. "I'm sorry, I have no explanation for it."

She readied herself for the frantic pacing and the slew of questions as she heard Haruka rise from the couch. She was tense as it was, with another apology ready. So when Haruka's hands, settled on her shoulders, she visibly jumped.

"O-okay," Haruka said. Her eyes were quite wide as she stared at Setsuna and her lip was between her teeth. "And h-how long have you known this?"

"Three weeks, five days, eight hours, fifty four minutes, and thirteen seconds," Setsuna said in a rush. "Not counting the time I've been watching from the time dimension."

Haruka frowned as she did the math. "Since we visited the planets?"

"But that was only when I noticed it, there could still be about a…forty-two hour period where it could have begun – in which I've seen nothing out of the ordinary." The questions had started. Haruka was still holding on to her. Tightly. _Why?_

"Does M-michiru know?" Haruka asked.

"She knows there's something wrong," Setsuna said, looking down at her crossed arms. "I didn't... it isn't wise to tell people their own futures."

"I-I guess that's fair." Haruka swallowed. "Does this happen often?"

Setsuna frowned. "Maybe… my focus has always been too broad to see individuals…with the clear exception of now where the only individual timelines I pay attention to are all of ours. I've only ever seen a few futures blur to the extent of disappearing. There's… no pattern that coincides with Michiru."

"I think that's a relief." Haruka sighed. "You look dead on your feet – sit down" and she walked Setsuna to the couch and sat down with her, putting her hand over one of Setsuna's, as she still had her arms crossed, and wrapping her arm around Setsuna's shoulders.

"I spent some time in the Time Dimension before I came home," Setsuna explained. "I'd hoped I'd find something." _Was I this lax in my duties before I was reborn, to not know something this simple?_

"Okay whatever you just thought: stop thinking it," Haruka said, pulling Setsuna closer. "I can only worry about one of the two of you at a time… And why are _you_ sorry?" Haruka asked, "You don't _cause_ these things to happen."

"I was… hoping I'd have an answer by now," Setsuna sighed. "But her future continues to be missing."

"Then… what if… no you'd cross your own timeline by doing that. What if we never leave her side… you've thought of that already," Haruka guessed as Setsuna nodded. "Well now I know why the two of you are attached at the hip lately."

"I am _not_ that obvious!" Setsuna worried.

"You are, it's kinda cute." Haruka tried to joke. She shook her head and ran her hand up and down Setsuna's arm. "We will figure it out."

"She said the same thing," Setsuna whispered, watching Haruka's leg bounce. She was surely itching to check on Michiru.

"That's cause we're part of a whole, makes us pretty in sync," Haruka said, wondering if Setsuna would notice she'd only said "part."

But Setsuna seemed not to notice. She really did look tired. _How long did she spend in the time dimension this time?_ Haruka wondered. _And she didn't want to sit down… did she think I'd be mad… because she thinks I love Michiru more…_

And she really did need to see Michiru _right now_. Haruka sighed. She'd have traded every thing _including_ the bike to, for once, only have one problem at a time. She stood up from the couch and took note of how Setsuna's shoulders sagged.

"Go on," Setsuna said, putting a smile on her face. "Go check on her."

"It's not that I think she's not fine, it's just…"

"Go," Setsuna encouraged, waving her hand. If it'd been acceptable she certainly would have followed Haruka back to she and Michiru's room as well.

"I'll be back," Haruka promised. "We'll work out what to do." And before she could second-guess herself about the action, she leaned in and kissed Setsuna's forehead.

It took her longer than she'd thought to convince herself Michiru was fine. _It could be this new daimon,_ Haruka thought as she sat on their bed, watching Michiru sleep. But that couldn't be quite right. Then Rei's future would surely have been a mess too. The enemy had hardly seemed interested in Michiru at all.

 _What about that first attack on Neptune?_ Haruka thought. _No, crap, Setsuna definitely checked the timelines between then and when we visited our homeworlds._

 _Maybe something happened on Neptune that day?_ Haruka thought. _She told me what happened… maybe there's something she didn't tell me… or doesn't remember._

And maybe her fatigue today really was unrelated. Maybe she really was sick. There'd been a flu circulating through the orchestra after all.

Haruka sighed when she checked her phone and realized she'd been watching over Michiru for at least ten minutes. And that probably meant Setsuna was feeling lonely, and guilty about worrying Haruka, _and_ maybe even guilty about feeling lonely. _I really do hope you'd like to be with us,_ she thought of Setsuna. _It'll be so much easier when I can love and worry about both of you at the same time._

She stole one last glance at Michiru before walking to the kitchen. She could see Setsuna through the window. She was curled into the couch just where Haruka'd left her: head tilted downward with her shoulders hunched inwards. She looked impossibly small.

_At least there's some problems I can fix…_

When Setsuna's favorite tea was ready, she pulled out her phone (congratulating herself again for having Ami figure out how to set up the remote control app) and turned on the stereo, which still had the CD of violin music ready from when she'd listened to it the other day.

She smirked as she watched Setsuna's head snap up as the music started to play and sat down next to her, holding out the tea, which Setsuna still hadn't noticed because she was staring at her.

"I said I was coming back, didn't I?" Haruka said, "Here, take this. It'll help you think."

She still had to press the mug into Setsuna's hands before she thought to curl her fingers around it.

"So," Haruka said. "I'm going to guess you won't tell me the reasons timelines have disappeared before."

"N-no," Setsuna said, " _That_ would be a lot of unnecessary worry to put on you."

 _And yet you'll let yourself worry alone._ Haruka thought, wrapping her arm around Setsuna's shoulders again. "How likely is it that any of them are what's wrong with Michiru?"

"There are no commonalities between any cases," Setsuna shook her head. "The individuals had already stood out to me because they were time anomalies. Hence why I'd been looking at them at all – the point where their futures disappeared, I could already surmise the reason why." She stared into her tea frowning. "But Michiru's still acting normally. So every time she's done something remotely strange the past three and a half weeks…"

"Like wearing her hair in a ponytail," Haruka pointed out. "I thought it was going to be a week of painting inspiration, and instead she's been complaining about her hair."

"Exactly – and I can't tell what's related and what I'm being paranoid about," Setsuna said, leaning into Haruka. "No one else was falling asleep when we got home – except for Chibi Moon."

"I've known her to stay up for two days straight composing music, believe me: _that_ , I find legitimately weird," Haruka said. "And also unhelpful."

"No one's ever disappeared from time by over-sleeping," Setsuna muttered.

"Good to know."

"And _she's_ not concerned – she seems perfectly content to know there's a problem, she hasn't asked me more about it at all – like she doesn't care what happens to her," Setsuna complained.

"She's never concerned about herself," Haruka sighed, watching Setsuna drink her tea. She noted the bags under her eyes that hadn't been there an hour ago. _An hour of my time ago… it's definitely been a fair bit longer for her._

"Well if we don't know the cause, and we can't tell what's related," Haruka said. "The two of us are going to figure out how to keep her out of as much danger as possible."

"We're going to have to follow her everywhere – I don't need to know her future to know she's going to hate that," Setsuna said.

"Bribe her with chai lattes," Haruka said, "I use those to get out of most minor offenses."

Setsuna chuckled. "Well in that case…"

They spent nearly two hours debating ways to keep Michiru from stumbling across unknown traps of fate. By the end of it, Setsuna'd finished her tea, had devolved to mumbling such advice as "avoiding the damn Bremuda triangle," until she eventually fell asleep on top of Haruka.

She managed to grab Setsuna's empty mug before it fell from her hands and then when she couldn't stretch out far enough to reach the coffee table, she set it on the floor.

She'd begun to feel tired herself, but leaving the couch would require waking Setsuna and she was loath to do that.

 _Michiru's fine_ , Haruka thought as she focused on the soft violin music still drifting out of the stereo. She shifted the slightest bit so she could rest her head on the arm of the couch without disturbing Setsuna, whose pillow was currently her shoulder. She brought her other arm around Setsuna, hoping they'd all have one night without dreaming of the monster they'd just fought.

 _We're all gonna be okay_ , she thought as she drifted off. _I'll… make sure…_

Michiru found them at three in the morning, after waking up from a nightmare of the snake. She snapped a picture before grabbing two blankets and bringing them back to the living room. One she threw over Haruka and Setsuna before kissing both of them on the forehead. The second she kept for herself, dragging one of the armchairs as close to the couch as she could and curling up in the blanket. One of Setsuna's hands was resting on Haruka's shoulder; Michiru put her own over it before settling back to sleep.

Setsuna woke up at exactly 5:37 – sunrise – feeling quite a bit warmer than normal and much more relaxed than she usually did when she woke.

She realized immediately why.

Normally, she dreamed: of their battles or their future perils or simply of the time dimension and its endless, bleak sand and fog calling her back to her post.

And for the first time since she'd been reborn into Linear Time, she had not dreamed at all.

She noticed about then the arms wrapped around her – much larger and more muscled than Hotaru's on all the nights when she'd crawled into Setsuna's bed after a nightmare. And there was someone else, she realized squeezing her hand.

 _Haruka and Michiru._ Her eyes snapped open. How had she ended up in their bed?

She hadn't, they were all in the living room. She and Haruka must have fallen asleep on the couch and Michiru had joined them, sleeping in the armchair that she'd once complained was dreadful to nap in.

She needed to check on Mina and Rei. She needed to check on Hotaru. She needed to devote more time to Michiru's timeline. And Ami was going to need help designing a way to track the sunspots.

But Haruka's arms were lovely, and the rise and fall of her chest against Setsuna's was wonderful. One of her legs had even curled around Setsuna's, so she couldn't move without waking her.

And even now, Michiru's thumb brushed softly across the back of her palm.

 _Haruka was only trying to comfort me,_ she reminded herself. _And Michiru wanted to be close to Haruka_. Still, she was closer to them than she'd possibly ever been. And this kind of temporal anomaly rarely ever came about. There was surely little chance of it happening again.

 _I can't very well move anyway_ , Setsuna thought. _I suppose I can stay here… a little longer._

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_Monday, April 7_ _th_

_Yesterday at 18:47, Astronomers from the Japanese Space Agency reported a stunning increase in the brightness of the planet Venus, which parallels the same increase in brightness witnessed on the Moon several weeks ago._

" _We're only speculating, but it's likely that we'll see similar ecological changes on Venus to those witnessed on the Moon," reported respected Astronomer Ozora Kakeru. He has been conducting an extensive study of the changes in the Moon's ecology the past several weeks, and has been leading the effort to rush a probe up to explore the changes. The expedition launched last Thursday and is expected to arrive at the Moon early Wednesday. "I honestly can't say what those might be. Ordinarily I would say that it would be impossible given Venus extreme temperatures and the acidity of its atmosphere. But the Moon has barely any atmosphere at all and we've confirmed there are whole planes of grass up there – even flowers. And running water… so no one can tell you what we'll find on Venus, who knows what else our own probe might find on the Moon – a whole Kingdom."_

_The change in Venus coincided with a bright orange comet that passed close to Earth's orbit around 19:15. Reports from the ISS confirm it later appeared to crash into Venus, and is likely related to the increase in brightness._

" _It will take significantly longer to reach Venus, or any of the other worlds, which I'm hypothesizing might undergo similar change," Ozora said. "It's exciting."_

 _Others are less optimistic about the changes. "Ozora's as known for his fantastical theories as he is for his respected research," NASA Astronomer Matthew Johnson said. "Changes of this magnitude and at this rapid a pace signal a frightening and dramatic change in our solar system – and one we had not predicted at all. We'll be refocusing all of our observational tools towards the planets in the coming weeks. We need to understand these changes and where their coming from – I'd like to be optimistic like Ozora," he added. "But the last time an unexpected astronomical event occurred, the entire eastern Hemisphere north of the equator entered a second ice age – we've still got three teams and five billion dollars trying to explain_ that _."_

_Senator Hino-San, a father of one senshi at the center of this conflict, had a far simpler explanation._

" _The Sailor Senshi were involved in the near-Ice Age," he said. "I've no doubt this is related – especially after that shocking attack on Tokyo tower and [Hikawa Shrine] earlier in the day." When asked about his daughter, Sailor Mars disappearance, at the hands of the beings that attacked both sites, Mr. Hino said: "I am distraught and concerned – my daughter is so different than Sailor Mars, I'm still shocked at the revelation and her behaviour since that reveal. I wouldn't doubt it if she and the sailors are more involved than they claim to be in the many unnatural events that…" (Cont. on pg. C5)_

"Mina!" Artemis shouted as he leapt from Mercury's shoulder and bounded across the beach, launching into Mina's arms.

Mercury smiled at Luna, on her other shoulder, and then at Sailor Moon, who'd teleported them all here before her shift at the bakery.

"Hi!" Mina said as she cuddled him close, still dressed in Aphrodite's royal garb. Mercury found herself grinning at them as she approached the sparkling, marble, castle, and then grinning wider when she noticed Rei, leaning heavily on the doorframe of the building but still very much awake and with quite a bit more color than when Mercury'd seen her yesterday. She ran to hug her first, as did Mina and Sailor Moon.

Then Sailor Moon departed, siting cookies that needed to be sold for the sake of Love and Justice, and it was just Mercury and their advisors for the first of the many shifts they'd planned out to watch over Venus until Rei was strong enough to return to the far more dangerous Earth.

"So… you are going by Mina?" Luna asked

"Yes… maybe," Mina made a face and pulled Rei close – not just to hold her, Mercury realized with a frown, but to help her walk. She flipped open the Mercury computer as they entered the Castle. Rei was much improved from yesterday – her stats, while still worrying, were much closer to normal. And as for Venus, Mercury directed the computer's attention towards the planet, it was like the Moon in every sense – right down to the intense levels of magic breaching the surface at the magical point. She looked out one of the sea-facing windows as she followed Mina through the ground floor. The geyser in the center of it was still spraying sparkling orange water high into the air.

"She's still deciding which one she likes," Rei answered. "It's not that complicated," she told Mina. "You're Aphrodite when you wear that, you're Mina the rest of the time."

"Ugh, but I can change my clothes," she said. And in a flash of orange light she had – wearing a short white skirt and white top of the style Mercury remembered being popular in the Moon Kingdom. "Serenity could too, but she was always bad at this trick – or maybe she just liked those stupid formal gowns better than I did, who even knows. I'm still convinced the Moon Kingdom designed them differently. My clothes from there never felt half so stifling."

" _I don't remember that,"_ Luna whispered on Mercury's shoulder. "Goodness what else have I forgotten?"

"I'm sure that's something only Mina would remember," Mercury consoled her. "Artemis and you are still valuable counselors you know."

"Yes, pertaining to how the Moon's magic worked," Luna sighed. "I've found I remember next to nothing about the interactions between the worlds."

"It _is_ a lot to remember," Mercury said. "I'm sure the fact that Aphrodite and Serenity remember half as much as they do is because they're Senshi."

"I agree," Mina said. "As I was saying – the name thing is complicated. I feel like… Usagi had a lot more time to sort out who she was and who Serenity was and who they'd be together. Plus she _knew_ she was getting her memories back," Mina scowled. "I was surprised – I wouldn't trade them for anything," she said, surprising Rei with a kiss. "But it's a lot to get used to."

She carried on down the ground floor hall – pointing out statues she remembered and a few with cracks she remembered inflicting on them by charging too quickly down the halls. She even pointed out the rooms behind each of the doors they passed: the irritating Tailor's office, the main ball room, the dining room where the finest state dinners were held, the court room…

And finally, at the very end of the hall, a set of bronze doors that Mina put both hands on, tracing the unfamiliar writing with her fingers.

"Enter if thee are of fair aspect and appreciate true fortune," Mina read with ease, "May all that comprises our bright Kingdom be visible to you here." She pushed the doors open. "Zeus never let me in here, said I never needed to see it," she smirked. "Since I could talk to Lady."

 _Could I speak to Mercury like she could to Venus_ , Mercury wondered as she and Luna followed them into the bright room. It was mostly windows – stretching from floor to ceiling, and surrounding an oval table whose top was a map – oceans stained a deeper brown than the surrounding wood. And in the center of the arc of windows was a mirror, enough like Nehelenia's that Mercury shivered. This one was bronze rather than gold, and engraved with elegant carvings of horses and then birds along the top.

Mina left Rei at the map-table, letting her lean against it before approaching the tall mirror. Artemis leapt off Mina's shoulder to curl around Rei's.

"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall," Mina said to her reflection, turning to wink at Mercury and Rei. "Who's the fairest of them all?"

Rei turned pink when an image of her appeared there – in a sleek red gown that Mercury realized she remembered – in one of her few memories of the Moon before Metalia's attack. _She liked to wear that when she danced_.

"Admittedly when I ask it questions like that it just reflects what I already think," Mina said. "This is connected to the planet – it was how old rulers got their information before I came along." She touched the glass as Rei's image faded from it and her eyes widened, a small gasp rushing into her.

"She's remembering something," Rei explained to them all.

"This was made on Neptune," Mina whispered. "Back when they still knew how to make them."

"They forgot?"

"Uh," Mina furrowed her brows and frowned at her reflection. "There was trouble there," she said. "Like a decade before I was born." She shook her head. "I don't think I was ever told much about it."

"I wonder why?" Mercury thought.

"Well it was quite far, and we were really focused on training. The Queen said that as long as it and Uranus were allies of the Golden Crystal there was little we could do, and very little was known about them either."

"Even to Sailor Uranus and Neptune?"

"Well maybe they knew," Mina pondered. "Never saw them much. And," she blushed. "I was too stupid to ask about their politics."

"Not stupid," Artemis spoke up, all of them turning towards him. "Young and awestruck, maybe, but never stupid." He smiled at her. "You were young, and for the most part we were at peace. The last thing anyone wanted you worrying about was wars. Especially the Queen."

"There was a war on Neptune?" Mercury asked.

"I…" Artemis frowned. "My memory is as vague as Luna's – there was war," he confirmed. "A warlord who rose up and took the throne for a time – but I remember next to nothing about it." He sighed. "I'm finding most of my memories are more recent ones. They came from the last five years or so of the Silver Millennium."

"They're still incredibly helpful," Mina said. "Anyways, so this," she gestured to the mirror as she directed her gaze to Mercury, "Will tell yah everything you need to know about the planet and the changes."

"Excellent," Mercury said. "Oh – and I was also hoping you could help me with these – " she held a small stack of loose parchment papers and one black notebook out to Mina. "Sailor Moon found these in the Moon Palace while she was there – but they're not languages known to the Mercury computer or the one in the command center."

Mina bit her lip, swiping both the papers and the notebook out of Mercury's hands. She flipped open the notebook first and snorted.

"Not gonna be any help – the is in code," she said. "Thorunn and I used one like this when we were little – but I can't read this now." she examined the handwriting. "This was written by the Queen though."

"We'll try the known cyphers then," Luna decided as Mina picked up the parchment paper.

"This…" Mina frowned. "Isn't…any language I recognize…" She stared at it for quite a while, but eventually sighed. "You're out of luck with this one too."

"It probably isn't that important," Mercury said. "But as Pluto's speculating this is an enemy the senshi in the past encountered, I thought it worth a try."

"Well Mercury's technology might be able to crack it – they had _far_ more records than the Moon; they probably could translate it."

"I do have a bit of the harddrive that I brought back," Mercury said. "I'd put it aside – exams are coming do," she said, feeling to Mina incredibly apologetic. "I'll put more work into it."

"It's fine – anyways back to this," she waved Mercury towards the mirror. "I only get words from Lady, but this could show pictures."

"That will be most helpful," Mercury stepped up to it, putting her fingers to the reflective glass. "Show me the sunspots that tried to come here."

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_Wednesday, April 9_ _th_

_Enough video footage of the Senshi's battle at the TV Tower on Sunday afternoon has emerged that we have been able to post a compilation from the beginning to the end on our website (viewer discretion is heavily advised). Our thanks go out to the videographers, several of whom were injured in the conflict._

_Experts are baffled by the dark creatures that attacked the tower – which sustained an estimated ¥ 200 billion worth of damage in the conflict._

_The damages, however, and even the disturbing nature of this new attacker, have paled in comparison to the outcry that's ensued over young Sailors' Saturn and Chibi Moon's involvement in the battle._

" _They're clearly children!" one child welfare expert told us after watching the video. "They shouldn't be battling at all, and let alone throwing themselves in front of the others – as you see Saturn doing multiple times with Sailor Moon. And that blade she carries – why she's as liable to hurt herself or a team member with that as she is an alien. She's clearly too small to wield something that heavy."_

_The search for Saturn and Chibi Moon's identities has been transferred to Tokyo's police at the request of social services, as they are more equipped than Juuban Elementary to handle the search._

" _We're wondering at this point if even their parents know of the girls involvement," the chief of police said. "I'm hoping they don't know, because what kind of parent lets their girls out into these battles – it's ridiculously irresponsible."_

 _The police have asked us to publish a list (_ left _) of possible signs parents should look for to determine if their daughters are one of these sailor scouts. "Please read it over carefully." they urge. "And if you know – I urge you to stop letting them fight. Women fighting these strange battles, doing all sorts of damage to city infrastructure is one thing. But to have these two children fight – it's morally reprehensible."_

Souichi Tomoe sighed as he turned the paper over so the front page picture of his daughter slamming into the Tokyo tower wasn't staring at him. He'd already read the article three times.

"Why'd you jump in front of her?" he heard Kara Aino exclaim through Hotaru's bedroom door. Drawing the conversation she and Hotaru's been having since they got home from school back to Sunday's battle.

Hotaru certainly wouldn't tell _him_ anything about it. So, he decided, he was only doing his job by spying.

"Cause it's my duty," Hotaru replied.

"But _why?_ "

"Cause... well the big reason is that Sailor Moon can use the Silver Crystal – which is really powerful, and that protects all of us and keeps everything good, so without her everything falls apart. _Technically_ it's the other senshi's duty to guard her and _my_ duty's to make sure the world can be reborn if evil ever wins… but I decided I needed a duty in the meantime."

"But why's that mean you jump in front of her – you're smaller."

"Cause she's not as good at dodging," Hotaru answered. "And… I guess everyone has their own reasons. Mina'd do it cause Mina feels responsible for her and all the other inner senshi."

"Kay,"

"But I mostly do it for Chibiusa," Hotaru explained. "I told you she's from the future,"

"And Sailor Moon's her Mom," Kara said.

"Right – so I protect Sailor Moon because without her, I never get Chibiusa – and Chibiusa's the most important to me ever."

"Isn't it bad though… that they make the two of you fight?" Kara asked.

" _No_ , where'd anyone get that idea?"

"Mom was reading it in the paper this morning – they said it was wrong cause you're just kids."

"What?" he heard Hotaru sigh. "Well _first_ of all. I am not a kid. If I were normal, I'd be turning fifteen this year."

" _What_?"

"Yes – but it's the Death Busters that ruined that, not my moms."

Souichi clenched his fists. Yes it was the Death Busters fault…it was also his.

"But isn't Chibiusa a kid?"

Hotaru snorted. "Chibiusa's 1001."

Kara gasped. Souichi's eyes widened as he leaned closer to the door.

"She just looks ten," Hotaru continued. "Anyways, so technically besides Mama she's the oldest one."

"Woah… wait how old's your mom?"

"As old as time," Hotaru said in a very dramatic voice.

 _She's joking surely,_ Souichi thought. _Meioh cannot be that old_.

"No way!"

"Okay maybe not that old…but definitely so old she doesn't remember." Hotaru shrugged. "She say's its ironic – she guarded time for so long she lost track of her own – I just think it's sad." He heard Hotaru sigh. "But _anyways_. We're not too young. And no one makes us fight," Hotaru explained. "It's just… I can _see_ evil coming. I can see it and I know the Earth is doomed unless we stand up to it. And I have the power to stand up – so I do, I don't even think about it."

"Isn't it scary."

"Yes," Hotaru said. "But if you knew something bad was going to happen and you had the power to fight it, wouldn't you fight?"

"Yes,"

"Well that's why we fight. And it's not so scary when all of us fight together," she said. "Your sister and Sailor Moon and Mama-Michiru and Mama-Suna are the real brave ones. _They_ had to fight all alone before we all met each other. And your sister was only like twelve. I don't even know how old Mama was when she started fighting cause she doesn't remember _not_ being Sailor Pluto"

Souichi crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the newspaper still in his hand.

 _I want to be proud of you_ , Souichi thought, sighing. _But surely if they all started so young, they should understand that you shouldn't have to._

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

"Did all of us have wings?" Jupiter asked as she lounged with Rei on the beach-side cliffs.

"No," Mina answered, doing a third flip in the air. "It was only me and Uranus."

Apparently Aphrodite had loved flying and Mina was infinitely excited about it which meant, according to Rei, that once they'd felt certain the sunspots weren't coming back, Mina'd refused to do anything on foot if she could do it in the air.

"Then…could I use the hammer to fly?" Jupiter wondered.

Rei snorted "Because that's really the function of a hammer."

"Hey," Jupiter threw the hammer up in the air and caught it one handed as though it weighed nothing at all. "All the comics and the movies say _Thor_ could. So _I_ should have had no trouble."

"Alright then," Mina taunted. "Try."

Jupiter hummed, standing up and walking to the edge of the cliff.

She supposed this wasn't exactly what they were meant to be doing by watching over Venus until Rei was well enough to go home, but Mina seemed positive there was no danger anywhere near them, and Magellan would alert her through the communicator if there was anything near the atmosphere.

Besides, this was the most peace and quiet she'd experienced in two weeks. No one could begrudge her a little fun.

"Alright," she said to the hammer, "You hear that, you're gonna fly?"

"You're calling it 'you'?" Mina frowned. "That's not it's name."

"Well what is it's name?"

" _I can't tell you_." Mina huffed. "That'd be unlucky – you have to name your weapon yourself."

Jupiter rolled her eyes. "Then it's gonna be you until I remember – anyways…" She held the hammer over the cliff. It was still as light as air. She stepped after it, lifting one foot off the cliff, then leaning forwards.

"Could she fly?" Rei whispered as Mina dropped down next to her.

"No, but who knows what'll happen if she thinks she –"

" _Woohoo_!" Jupiter's shout drew their eyes to her as she stood with the hammer held over her head and with only air under her feet. "Check it out! I did it!" she stuck her tongue between her teeth and kicked her legs, flying up, up, up until Mina and Rei couldn't see her in the bright sunlight.

"Well she can go up," Mina commented.

Jupiter stuck her arm out to the left and shot fifty feet down the cliffs.

"And sideways," Rei added, leaning against Mina.

"This is AWESOME!" Jupiter shouted, She pumped her fist, and the hammer too, the head of it tilting down towards the ground. And Jupiter followed it.

Mina flew into the air and Rei jumped to her feet as Jupiter plummeted, hitting the beach with a smack that send a cloud of sand rolling out in all directions.

"I'm okay," Jupiter groaned as the dust cleared.

Mina sighed and returned to the grass, settling down next to Rei and smacking her hand over her face. "And she can do _down_ too."

Rei bit her lip, trying to stifle a fit of giggles. And as her face turned red, Jupiter shot back up onto the cliff face, landing as she twirled the hammer.

"Did you see that!" Jupiter boasted. "Who needs wings when I have this!" she said, making a dramatic show of pumping her fist and the hammer into the air.

And she was completely covered in sand.

Rei couldn't help it any longer. She threw her head back and laughed, loud enough that the sound echoed all along the coast and sent all the bright, red birds they'd noticed yesterday night soaring into the air.

It was the first time Mina had heard Rei laugh in days, it was the first time Aphrodite had heard it in years.

 _I like her laugh more now,_ Mina realized as she recalled some of Aphrodite's memories. _It's so much happier._

Jupiter was beaming, reflecting the joy Mina could feel nearly as strongly as her own, and nearly as strongly as Rei's.

 _If only we could stay this happy forever,_ she thought, _I'd give everything a billion times over, and then again, to make that happen._

 _~AgeofAquarius_ ~

 _There,_ Ami thought as she typed the last bit of code into the Mercury computer. _That should help translating it._ She'd assumed the piece of the harddrive she'd brought back from Mercury with the helmet would display it's information in Lunarian and Mercurian. And while Luna had pronounced her fluent in Lunarian last year, she had never looked at the old Mercurian language.

But since her own palm-top _did_ have that language stored on it, she'd just needed to design a code that would translate the information on the harddrive before she copied the back up. The copy would now download in Lunarian and Japanese so that everyone else could understand the information it provided.

 _Even if it's just a piece of the information stored on that whole computer,_ Ami thought, _it might help me figure out how to regain Athena's memories…or even give me a better idea of how well it integrates with our technology._

 _And if this works, I could even go back and try to access that entire digital archive. It_ has _to have something on this enemy._

She double checked the flash-drive she was trying to copy it to again, and the spare external hard-drive for if she had mis-judged the data capacity of the hard-drive.

Then, with lip between her teeth and her eyes intent on the palm-top's screen, she attached the hard-drive from Mercury with the cord she'd designed herself.

The translation began working instantly. The hard-drive appeared only to contain about 50 GB of data. She grinned and pushed her glasses up higher, she'd designed her flash-drive to contain 100.

She let it and the translation program begin to copy onto the flash-drive but couldn't resist opening what was currently on the Mercury hard-drive. Drumming the fingers of her left hand excitedly against the desk, she dragged the cursor over the hard-drive's icon and opened it.

It seemed that nothing happened at first. Ami frowned. The download to the flash-drive was nearly completed already. _I definitely accessed the program._ She went to open the hard-drive's files again.

Her cursor froze, the screen of the Mercury palm-top glitched.

Two windows then popped up concurrently.

_File transfer 100% complete_

_Malware Detected._

"What!" Ami gasped, frantically trying to work around the frozen cursor using the keyboard. But none of the back door protocols would run. The keys grew hot under her fingers.

And then the screen of the Mercury palm top shattered, smoke wafting off the frozen screen.

Ami coughed and threw open her window lest she set off the building's smoke detectors. _That's the last thing we need_. Once all the smoke had cleared out she sighed and unplugged the hard-drive from her computer. _Well now I have a copy of a virus_. She sighed. Her shoulders sagged as she took in the damage to the Mercury palm-top. Magic might repair the screen quickly enough, though she had no idea what the virus might have done to the rest of the system.

 _And why was it there?_ Ami wondered _A defense maybe, against data being stolen? Or perhaps the enemy breached set sunspots to my world ahead of my visit to it, and they infected what remained of the computer…_

Pushing up her glasses and rubbing her eyes, Ami dared to check the time. 3:00 am.

She had class in six hours…

 _But I don't have work afterwards…I can sleep then._ She sat in her desk chair and rolled it up to the large PC she usually reserved for school work, then made sure her notebook and paper were close at hand.

She was a bit old-fashioned for sure, writing it out by hand first, but she always found there were fewer errors to repair at then end.

And, first jotting down what sorts of protections would need to be in place to analyse an alien malware program, she set to work on a fresh batch of code.

 _It's a good think I got more coffee yesterday,_ Ami thought as she yawned.

~ _AgeofAquarius~_

_Friday, April 11_ _th_ _,_

_The Japanese Space Agency has finally released information about the probe that made contact with the Moon early Thursday morning._

" _It appears to have crash landed," Dr. Ozora Kakeru, lead Astronomer on the project announced this morning. "We did attain some interesting readings before landing. The atmosphere appears to have quadrupled in mass, and we did detect an oxygen composition of about 27% – which is liveable air. And we also detected an active magnetic field, which its lacked previously…other readings were lost with the probe, including the camera… which is ashame, as telescope imaging has not been able to get a good view of the surface."_

_Ozora went on to say that this example highlights the reasons why all space explorations, even small missions, should be approached with far more diligence and care._

" _We rushed this one in our excitement, we'll learn from it with the probes we direct towards the other planets."_

Kakeru returned from his office with his head towards the ground and his lab coat slung over his hunched shoulders.

 _I was sure the math was right!_ He thought as he made his way up towards his home in the observatory. _I went over it myself ten times!_

But the mission to the moon had still failed, the probe even more disappointing as it had been preparing its landing manuever when all communication with it had suddenly cut out. He kicked the toe of his shoe hard against one of the steps up to the observatory. He'd _almost_ seen it.

 _And why are none of our telescopes working?_ he thought. "It is as if the Moon doesn't _want_ to be seen."

"That's quite an astute remark," a familiar voice from years ago startled him. He jerked his head up, dropping his coat when he saw Sailor Moon's cat outside his front door.

"Luna!" he gasped, dropping to his knees so he could talk to the purple cat more easily. "Luna – the Moon. It's come alive! I…I tried to look for you but Sailor Moon's house was always mobbed by reporters. P-please! It, I mean it is magnificent! I tried to send a probe up and it crashed, I was," he sighed. "So stupid."

"No." She shook her head, staring at him with her sharp, amber eyes. "Your math was absolutely perfect," she said. "The probe made a perfect landing. It was quite the feat to accomplish in barely a week of preparation. You out-did yourself."

"But… then how?"

And then Luna glowed, her form stretching until it was much taller and wider, a skirt flaring out around her. He stared up at the woman with Luna's eyes and ringlets the same purple color as her fur. She was still as stunning as she'd been before.

"It isn't the right time," Luna told him, "to reveal the Moon Kingdom to the Earth, not with the negative slant the press seems to have taken, of late." She was holding out her hand to him, with a stack of white card-paper in it. "But I trust you, Kakeru. And from one researcher to another I know your passion for discovering the truth about the Moon comes from pure intentions." She turned the stack of papers over and he gasped.

"The camera!"

"We destroyed the probe," Luna said. "But I made sure the data it collected was still safe – that's in here too. As are the selfies," and she chuckled as she flipped to the second picture in the stack – a small pink-haired senshi with a sparkling sea at her back making a face at the camera. "Children must be allowed to be children sometimes."

"Th-this is the Moon princess,"

"Y-yes," Luna sighed, shaking her head. "I suppose she is now, I certainly can't call Usagi simply a princess anymore."

He reached his hand out to grasp the precious photographs, already eager to see the plains of grass, the rivers, the seas, the foothills, what had become of the many craters, whether any buildings or animals resided on the surface."

As he took the stack, Luna grasped his wrist, turning it so she could see the inside.

She traced her thumb over the crescent moon that had appeared there four weeks ago.

"It isn't just the Tsukinos…" Luna whispered.

"What does it mean?" Kakeru asked. "It's not related to this new threat to the Earth is it?"

"No…I have a theory," Luna snapped the fingers of her other hand and something poofed overhead, before a small crescent shaped ring clattered to the pavement in front of him.

"If you have any dreams you find strange," Luna whispered. "Just say my name into that, and you can tell them to me."

"What is your theory?" he stuttered.

But Luna shook her head. "I can't tell you – it's more of a hypothesis now. A wonderful one," she confessed with a smile on her face. "But only a hypothesis. I need far more evidence… and I haven't the time right now to conduct the proper research." She nodded down at him. "When this new enemy has been defeated, I'll let you know my theory." And without another word, she was a cat again, bounding away down the steps too fast for him to follow.

"Luna…" he whispered, darting his gaze back down to the precious pictures in his hands.

There was another with the pink haired girl, posing with her hands on her hips in front of a gorgeous white palace, with fountains like waterfalls leading down the promenade all the way to the moat and the front steps. He stared at the gleaming columns, the stained glass dome, and the crescent moons that topped all the towers.

It was the same beautiful palace he'd been seeing in his dreams.

"I hope you prove your theory soon." He whispered, standing up off the steps and flipping through more of the pictures. "What I wouldn't give to see this with my own eyes," he whispered.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

"How are you?" Usagi whispered. She and Mina sat shoulder to shoulder on the roof of the highest tower on the grand Venesien citadel, Mina in her night clothes and Usagi in her new royal dress and crown.

"Well," Mina whispered. "Fine, I guess." She sighed, leaning into Usagi as they watched the meteor shower overhead. "Rei doesn't see it, but she's improving a lot."

"I noticed," Usagi smiled. "I was so happy to see her doing better… I wish today had gone as she'd planned."

Mina shook her head. "She tried to rush it."

Rei'd felt emboldened today. She'd spent all afternoon on her own feet without trouble, they'd gone flying, and they'd been celebrating both of those things with a make out session when Usagi and her ever-perfect timing had teleported in to help guard Venus.

It had been such a positive day, she hadn't wanted to ruin it by telling Rei it was too soon for her to try transforming. _I should have_ , Mina berated herself in hindsight. _Or we should have distracted her somehow_.

But Rei'd been determined to try, an effort with had _nearly_ worked, only for her transformation to dissolve before it had halfway formed, leaving her frustrated, depressed, and exhausted, a trifecta that had not been helped in anyway by Mina helping her up to bed, no matter that she wouldn't have gotten there on her own.

"She's trying too hard," Mina continued, pulling her knees up to her chest. "She'll take it harder cause you were here too, she'll feel like she can't protect you."

Usagi hummed. "Not if I have anything to say about it," she shook her head. "I always have trouble telling you how grateful I am – that all of you have stayed this strong and this loyal for so long. You never needed to devote your lives to protecting Serenity. And you never needed to do so for me."

Mina looked over at her. "We do it for you," she said. "I mean at first… 'protecting the princess'… that was the duty I _had_ to do. It kept me going when I might otherwise have given up – knowing you were out there somewhere depending on me fighting."

"But I can defend myself now," Usagi pointed out. "I've even saved your butt a time or two."

"Nu-uh," Mina denied, sticking out her tongue. They both laughed and Sailor Moon elbowed her in the ribs. Then Mina answered. "It's been more than twice. You're the strongest of us, always have been."

"I don't know about that now," Usagi said throwing her arm around Mina. "You're pretty powerful now too."

"Oh I know… I still can't believe how much." She put her own arm around Usagi and settled her head against her shoulder. "But anyways – at first it was the duty I had… but afterwards, when we were friends, and you were a real person fighting by my side every day." She smiled. "Then it was the duty I chose."

Usagi sniffed. "And my duty's to you," she said. "To protect all of you, and this planet…well _all_ the planets." She gazed up at the stars. "She said I'd be a good Queen," she told her. "My mother… after Endymion proposed."

"And you shocked the whole ball room by playing tonsil hockey with Silver Alliance Enemy Number One."

"I couldn't help it. _He proposed!_ " Usagi hissed. "You would have done the same thing."

"For Areisa – yes," Mina said. "For Kunzite… maybe in the beginning…" she sighed. "Aphrodite still feels guilty about him, or I suppose _I_ do. I keep wondering if he knew I loved Areisa… if that pushed him dark."

"I suppose you'll have to ask him." Usagi shrugged. "But I'd guess not. And he's very happy with Zoicite now, in any case."

"Hmm…" Mina closed her eyes, soaking up the intense calm that seemed to radiate off Usagi, the sureness of purpose and the child-like delight that filled her just from watching the meteor shower. _She and Serenity really don't feel that different._

"How do you know what to _call_ yourself?" Mina blurted out.

"Hmm?"

"You have… Serenity's whole life in your head… and Usagi's… and your future self calls herself Neo Queen Serenity… what name feels more like you? How can you tell?"

"Well… I know my future self uses it as a family name. I mean Chibiusa's whole name is Usagi Serenity." She sighed. "Which is a really pretty name."

"And one which you are not allowed to think about seriously for at least two years," Mina said. "No accidents!"

"Oh stop teasing!" Usagi blushed. "Mamo-chan's in America."

"And you can teleport," Mina retorted. And she looked up when she felt Usagi gasp and sit up straighter.

"Oh my god _I can_. Oh! I've been making do with Skype for _weeks_! We could have –"

"T.M.I." Mina deadpanned. "Answer my question first."

"Oh, right." Usagi nodded, sighing. "I suppose… maybe it's different for you. Serenity's not a different person… she's just a me who lived a different life." She shrugged. "One where… I was an only child. And my mother was… amazing and lonely. And I didn't have to spend eight hours in school failing kanji lessons… and where all of you were older. So I didn't have friends… I barely got to know Endymion… I didn't get to be a senshi." She sighed and closed her eyes, chuckling. "Even all the lessons I learned about how to be a Queen… I re-learned all the most important ones – from you guys, and from Luna, and even just from myself. Having Serenity's memories is a _huge_ help towards the idea of running a planet."

"I bet,"

Usagi giggled. "But honestly, I think if I could talk to her, she'd say she liked my life as Usagi a lot more than hers – I got to do so many of the things she dreamed of." She put a hand over her crescent mark. "She's me, an old version of me. And her past is one that's important to my future. So I want to hold onto her name." she grew quiet for a moment. "But I've become so much more than she ever got to be. So I feel like I want to stay Usagi – cause that's the version of me who made me who I am."

She felt so confident, and joyful, and _sure_ as she spoke. So _sure_ about _everything_.

Mina shrugged. "Yeah." She looked up at the stars. "Aphrodite was a lot like me. She liked music. She liked dancing. She loved Rei. She liked training and talking. She _always_ wanted her voice to be heard." She was quiet for a while. "She had the same challenges I do too. Except…"

She got quiet again, staring up at the stars though the meteors no longer fell. She only spoke when Usagi squeezed her arm. "Queen Dione… was my mother. And I knew she loved me. And Queen Serenity was like a mother, and I knew she loved me. But now I have Mom… and lately I'm not sure if she really loves me or if the Sailor thing has ruined that."

"Mina…"

"So my life's really not any better or worse than Aphrodite's was. I think… she'd like that I'm closer to Haruka. And she'd like that I'm closer to you. And she'd love having Kara around and not having to see Hephaestus." She bowed her head hoping Usagi wouldn't notice her eyes tearing up. "But it wouldn't matter if I went by Aphrodite anyways. Because the one thing she wanted back more than anything was Dione. And now the other thing she wants back is Serenity… and I can't have either of them back."

She wasn't crying, at least not until she heard Usagi sniff. And then she couldn't stop the tears anymore. They poured out of her in rivers.

"Maybe someday they'll be reborn," Usagi whispered. "If they haven't been already. And even if not. I _know_ someday. We'll see them both again."

"I know," Mina sniffled, sighing into Usagi's shoulder. "I just… it wouldn't even hurt so much except that I _knew_ they loved me. I could feel it. Like I could actually feel it. Like I can feel you, and Rei, and everyone else now."

"Oh…" Usagi realized.

"And I'm afraid I'll go back… and I'll see Mom again, and I'll _feel_ that she doesn't."

Admitting it spurred more tears, so many the shoulder puffs on Usagi's dress were soaked through with them before long. "Sorry," she murmured through her tears.

"Don't be," Usagi murmured, running her hand through Mina's hair as she held her close. "It'd be impossible for anyone not to love you Mina," she said. "but even if she didn't… you have us. We love you more than anything." She hugged her tighter. "I'm sure we can get your mom to come around to the Sailor thing eventually – just leave her to me!"

That did get a watery chuckle out of Mina, who held on to Usagi's unwavering confidence and tried to make it her own."

"Your mother was right," Mina whispered, pulling away so she could look at Usagi properly. "You _are_ a wonderful Queen. No matter what your exam scores were – you have exactly the right instincts with people and morals." She knelt, picking up the Queen's hand and kissing it. "When its time for you to use that title, I'll be the first one by your side."

Usagi sniffed then. And again. She squeezed Mina's hand.

"I know," she whispered. And Mina felt her power flare up as the crescent on her forehead began to glow, and so did the orange symbol of Venus on her own. "I can always depend on you."

Their clasped hands grew hot and Mina darted her eyes down towards them. She and Usagi gasped at the same time.

White, pink, and orange power emanated from their clasped hands, and flared out towards the starry sky, forming into the gleaming metal of a blade with a gold crescent two thirds of the way down, and a matching golden hilt with sparkling rubies embedded above the handle and in the pommel.

"Moonlight," Mina whispered as she stood, she and Usagi both holding the handle.

"The holy sword," Usagi whispered. "It came back."

"It was your mother's," Mina said. "I… I don't need it. You should have it."

Usagi was quiet. "I never liked fighting… I still don't. And I'm plenty powerful without a blade. She let go of the handle, and the sturdy weight of the sword lay completely in Mina's hand. "It's always been yours."

Mina stared at Usagi, and then at the blade, and then did something she remembered from long ago. She held it in both hands, and swiped her thumb across the sharp edge, letting her blood stain the metal.

"Moonlight is mine then," she whispered raising it into the night sky. "To be raised in the name of Love and Beauty, and" she nodded to Usagi. "In the defence of all I and it hold dear."

And as she lowered it, she felt a weigh around her waist and glanced down to see a scabbard their fastened about her by the beads of the wink chain.

She secured the sword in it, feeling Usagi's pride alongside her own excitement and saw, when she looked back up, the Neo Queen beaming at her.

"Whether you chose Aphrodite or Mina," she said. "You're already the best friend I could ever ask for."

She dove at Usagi at the same time her friend did, holding her close as they stood atop the roof.

When she pulled away a while later, they were both still grinning, and she noticed the crescent and the symbol on her own forehead still cast a faint light in the nighttime, highlighting their faces and making Usagi's crown throw off dazzling beams of light from the gold and all of the red and pink jewels.

"I've seen this before," she said just as she realized it, breaking the tender moment as she reached up to touch Usagi's crown, as though it might bring out more of the distant memory. "When Aphrodite was young."

"On my mother?" Usagi asked.

"No…on someone else. Aw Damnit, I forget who. They were pretty though." She smiled. "They came because I transformed, I think. And they wanted to help me with my powers."

"Who was it!" Usagi whined.  
"I don't know." Mina sighed. Clasping Usagi's shoulder. "We'll figure it out someday. That's supposed to be the fun part."

" _No way,"_ Usagi rolled her eyes. "I want the answers!"

" _That_ 's what I think too!" Mina fumed. "Who made these rules?"

"Probably Setsuna," Usagi decided. "Why would I ever tell you the answers," Usagi said in a dramaticly low version of Setsuna's voice. "When you will learn so much more from studying them."

Mina snorted, and then the both of them broke down into giggling fits, which erased all trace of Mina's earlier tears and left her giddy and refreshed by the time Usagi had to leave.

It almost made her forget there was a reason she and Rei had retreated here, to this still New born world with its bright oceans and the new plants and animals that appeared on its lush surface with every day that passed.

She made sure her sword was within reach as she settled down to sleep, trying not to giggle as Rei immediately wrapped her arms around Mina the second she lay down.

 _There's a lot of fighting still ahead,_ Mina thought as she drifted off watching her new weapon. _But maybe I feel a little more prepared to fight it now._

~ _Á Suivre_ ~


	11. A Romantic Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our favs get some time to be couples amid all the turmoil of this new enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been looking forward to this chapter for a while. A certain OT3 is FINALLY going to get their shit together… Take note, as I wrap up the character arcs in part one, I will start introducing some of the problems our characters will tackle in Arc 2, starting with your first hint about Pluto’s in this chapter.  
> And yes there is another new hint about Michiru in this chapter. I am nothing if not consistent…and a little bit too subtle for my own good.
> 
> Disclaimer: If it were mine, the outer senshi would have had a whole Manga series just for themselves. And OT3 would be really, actually, canon. Not: canon if you squint really hard at the scene where they have matching rings.

**A Romantic Interlude**

Mina sighed, collapsing into the grass beside Rei and inhaling the fresh scent of flowers in bloom. Venus spring blossoms did not generally bloom so late or so rapidly in April, but (as she’d learned from Lady herself) the magic that had reawakened her had made the planet excited. Now it was rushing to create as much of the flora and fauna (and even the animals) that had been lost as it could.

Her breath hitched as warm fingers ghosted against the sensitive skin of her left wing. “Gentle,” she whispered as she felt Rei withdraw the touch. “They tickle.”

“Now that is dangerous information,” Rei murmured, putting her fingers to the delicate appendage again. She was gentle, tracing the swirling patterns across the pale yellow wings. “They don’t look soft,” Rei said. “But they are… kind of like a snake.”

“Eeeew,” Mina scowled.

“I didn’t mean it badly,” Rei retorted. “I was just making an observation.” Then she giggled. “Maybe you’ll shed your wings like a snake.”

“I have never,” Mina huffed, shifting closer so that Rei would not have to stretch to reach her. Her hands felt soft too – and warm and comforting as they traced her tired wings.

The two of them had been flying since noon, and Mina had gotten tired after chasing the herd of horse foals that had stampeded out of the surf of the Boiling Sea during their flight. Besides the birds, they’d been the first animal the two of them had seen come to life on her new-old world. It had been stunning, watching them stumble onto the beach, shaking the sparkling ocean water free of their manes...

“For my birthday,” Rei whispered. “I wish we could stay here,”

“Well we might still,” Mina murmured, adjusting her arms so she could rest her head on them. “It’s just a week from now – you might still not be able to transform.”

“I’ll have my powers back by _then_ ,” Rei snapped. “I’d just… like to have my powers back _and_ be able to stay here.”

Mina sighed, opening her eyes and gazing at the beautiful green sea and the orange and yellow clouds that streaked across the uppermost layers of the atmosphere, ordinary, cotton-white clouds of water drifting through the lower layers. The one she could spot from here looked like a horse.

“If you really wanted to we could,” Mina said. “I can teleport on my own now…or at least Artemis _says_ I can… should probably test that.”

“Later,” Rei said, her fingers tracing down to Mina’s back and across to her right wing.

The sunlight beating down on them was nearly as warm as Rei was – an improvement for certain on their first day here when she’d always seemed too cool to Mina.

“I wish we could stay too,” Mina confessed. “There’s so much of this world I haven’t seen…and I _want_ to see more of it… but,” she sighed. “What kind of leader would I be if I stayed here while they all fought?”

“Well you wouldn’t, so that would make you a decent leader,” Rei said. “But wanting to just makes you as human as the rest of us.” Her hand continued to trace patterns onto Mina’s wing: a heart, a star, Rei’s name. Rei felt content today, and fascinated as she continued to map Mina’s wings with her hands. And those emotions were just fine with Mina – they beat the frustration, fear, anger, and helplessness that Rei’d felt frequently since Sunday.

It was still so strange to _feel_ her emotions so easily. She would have killed to be able to when she was Aphrodite. She still wondered what had troubled that version of Rei so much.

“I’m surprised you haven’t asked about Areisa,” Mina said. Then she looked over her shoulder as she felt Rei become nervous. Rei’s fingers stilled over the middle of her wing.

Rei shrugged. “I guess I didn’t think there was much to know – I didn’t get any memories of her on Mars.”

“That’s a lie,” Mina whispered.

Rei sighed, then swore. “I hate this new ability of yours, have I mentioned?”

Mina smirked. “I distinctly remember you saying you loved it last night.”

“That was a different situation,” Rei countered.

“Cause now I’m using it to call you on your bullshit.”

“Exactly,” Rei said.

Mina shook her head. “Did you get a memory of Areisa’s that day?”

“Sort of,” Rei shook her head, focusing her eyes on the patterns she’d just resumed drawing on Mina’s wing. “It wasn’t much of one…just talking about some statues.”

“Oh?” Why did Rei feel suddenly revolted?

“They were… violent statues,” Rei explained. “I don’t know… it never really bothered me being the Guardian of War – I felt stronger for it.”

“Way more intimidating than being the Guardian of Love,” Mina said.

“Exactly… so anyways. I’d never really thought about where that came from until seeing Mars…it looks violent _now_ … and remembering the story about the statues made me realize how violent it must have been back then. I guess I haven’t asked because I’m not sure I want the answers at the moment.”

“That’s fair,” Mina said. “I don’t know much though. Areisa was very private about her life outside the Moon Kingdom – and I couldn’t read her emotions.”

“Did you like her?” Rei asked.

Mina turned all the way over, Rei’s hand falling away from her wings. She met her eyes. _I loved her_ , she thought, opening up the connection they were getting better at maintaining. Eye contact was a must if she wanted to initiate it, she’d never be able to speak to others in her thoughts with the same ease that Rei, Michiru, and Setsuna could. _I loved her like I love you._

_Was she like me?_

_Of course – she was just as fiery, pun intended. Stubborn. She liked to challenge me. She liked to tease me. She liked to dance with me._

“I’ve never danced with you!” Rei realized aloud. “Not properly.”

“Oh well _that_ must be fixed as soon as possible,” Mina declared. She jumped up from the cliff-face. “Where’d Neptune and Uranus get to – we need music.”

“I’m sure they’d say that’s not why they’re here,” Rei murmured as she stood up as well, she pointed across the cliffs. “There… Oh,” Her eyes widened as her hand went to her head. “Michiru says maybe later… they’re busy.”

“Gah!” Mina immediately whipped around and snapped her eyes shut.

“Not like that,” Rei rolled her eyes. “You have such a dirty mind. They’re only talking. Shouldn’t you know that: you’re the empath!”

“I can’t feel them from all the way over here,” Mina retorted. “What are they talking about?”

“None of our business,” Rei said, sitting down into the grass once more.

“Aww,” Mina said, plopping down beside her. “But I wanna know,” she gazed out towards the spot across the cliffs where she’d just spotted Michiru’s aqua hair. “Earlier they felt frustrated about something… anyways,” she lay down and rolled towards Rei, flexing her wings so Rei could reach them again. “I’m _not_  going to worry about it today. It’s still our Romantic Interlude,” she declared. “Earth drama can stay on Earth until we get back.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Picnic under the stars?” Uranus asked as they laced and unlaced the fingers of their clasped hands.

“Too obvious,” Neptune said.

“I thought that was the point?”

“No, the point is to let her come to us. Obvious will make her feel like she’s intruding.”

“So we tell her she’s not – come to think of it why can’t we just say ‘Setsuna, we love you. Do you want to be with us properly?’”

Neptune rolled her eyes. “I swear there was a time you were the romantic one.”

“I still am.”

“So you’re going to tell her the biggest news of her life just out of the blue.”

“I’d do it while she wasn’t distracted.”

“She’s always distracted,” Neptune chuckled. “Imagine if you tell her when she’s not paying attention. She’d probably have half her mind on when we can next see Hotaru, and at least a quarter on all the errands, and the rest on worrying about me.”

“She definitely devotes far more than a quarter of her attention to worrying about you.”

“Well she shouldn’t,” Neptune countered. “And you shouldn’t.”

Uranus looked towards her. “Can’t help it – you’re important to me. And you’re important to her.”

Neptune smiled at her. “Well there’s nothing wrong with me at the moment.”

“Your transformation failed on Sunday.”

“It was a difficult battle,” Neptune countered. “I was out of practice.”

“And you’ve been tired – not just Sunday, all week.”

“Uranus all that is wrong with me is I’m catching that damn flu that’s going around the orchestra,” Neptune rolled her eyes, letting go of Uranus hand to summon her mirror and hold it over her head. Uranus frowned as she watched Neptune attempt to tuck back her hair, a gesture she’d seen her employ with increasing frequency over the past five weeks. Now she didn’t even seem to think about it.

 _Your hair isn’t even in your face_ ,Uranus thought. She filed it away under a list of potential clues to sort through with Setsuna.

“Anyways if there _was_ something wrong with me, I’d see it in the mirror.” She looked back at Uranus. “What did she see?”

“I’m not telling you,” Uranus said. “She told me not to… and I actually get why.”

“Well as long as you don’t start disappearing for days on end in the fourth dimension over it,” Neptune said, re-clasping their hands. “Now back to this.”

“I still say a picnic is not too obvious.”

“Maybe… but it’s going to rain all next week.” Neptune put her finger to her lips as she thought. “Still… dinner has potential.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Pluto watched Uranus and Neptune from the time dimension, feeling like an intruder on their quiet afternoon together on Venus coastal cliffs. They’d barely had any time to be a couple recently.

 _Cause they can_ ’ _t go out in public the same way they used to,_ Pluto thought. _Not together anyways. And the only times they’re together I’m home getting in their way._ She sank down against the Time Doors as she continued to watch Neptune and Uranus gaze at each other, their clasped hands moving in such a way that they might have been conversing through the simple movements of their fingers against each other’s.  _If only they’d hold my hands like that_. She shook her head. _Stop thinking about it_.

They were such incredible friends. They’d invited her into their home and their family and had frequently put aside days they could have spent with just each other in order to include her. _They only do it to be nice… why do I have to make it something it isn’t_.

She had a long history of it. She’d held similar feelings for Queen Serenity in her first life and for Neo King Endymion. _They were always so nice to me… and I always,_ always _ended up feeling this way. It’s pathetic._

It was even more pathetic now, because it seemed sometimes that her feelings were reciprocated, or – if she were being rational – that Haruka and Michiru were aware of them and tried to encourage them. _They just don’t want me to feel bad._ She shook her head, sighing as she watched them talk in Linear Time. _And I thought I’d get better about feeling for every person who looked twice at me, but I’ve gotten worse, I think._ She rubbed a hand over her face. _I never felt half as much for the Queen and Endymion as I do for them._

Pluto watched as Uranus grinned, releasing Neptune’s hand and leaning over her. And then she watched as Neptune leaned up to meet her for a kiss.

She banished the image, her face burning and her eyes damp.

_See how they love each other… it would never work._

_Besides, you’d always have to return here. Where you can’t ruin anyone’s relationships with your feelings._

She returned home the same night (after she had spent another week of her own time royally failing to see anything useful). She left the time dimension pinching the bridge of her nose. She couldn’t even do her job right.

 _I should just stay there_ , she thought as she moved towards the kitchen. _Clearly I’m out of practice_.

And she was perfectly aware of her reason for returning too. Despite her reservations, it seemed, she couldn’t resist coming home to Haruka and Michiru.

 _I won’t get in the way,_ she thought. _But I just want to see them for a little while_.

“Setsuna!” she heard Haruka call and whirled around. “You’re home – excellent.”

Haruka was walking down the hall in all black – including a sleeveless black top that showed off her arms. Setsuna tried not to stare. The only color on her was the gold of her belt buckle, her necklace, and her earrings. Clearly: a going out outfit.

“We were waiting for you,” Michiru said as she emerged from the hallway that led to their bedroom. And once again, Setsuna found herself confronted with date-night clothes. Michiru had on the dress that was Setsuna’s favorite – the white one which blended into a blue skirt that fluttered around Michiru’s knees like waves.

“Waiting for me?” she wondered.

“Of course,” Michiru nodded. “You have perfect timing – I know it’s a little late, but we’re hoping there’ll be less chance of the press tailing us, and perhaps we can sneak out to dinner.”

 _Oh!_ Setsuna blushed and laughed to cover her embarrassment. For a second it had sounded like they wanted her along. “Which restaurant is it – I can get you there with the time doors.”

“As nice as that would be,” Haruka grinned, pulling the car keys out of her pocket and swinging them on her finger. “I miss driving when there’s no one around snapping pictures. We’re getting to dinner the human way.”

“We were waiting for you so you could come with us,” Michiru said.

“I…” Setsuna hesitated. “Don’t want to interrupt your date.”

“It’s a date for the three of us,” Haruka insisted. “We’ve spent literally all our time the past month worrying about this enemy, and the press, and Hotaru.”

“We haven’t gotten to spend any time just together,” Michiru said. “And I’ve wanted the chance to take you to this place for ages. You’ll love it.”

“They have eighteen different tea choices,” Haruka teased.

She bit her lip, glancing down at her ordinary lavender business suit.

“It’s not a fancy place,” Michiru said. “But you can change if you want.”

 _They’re just inviting you to be nice_ , Setsuna thought. _If you refused they’d still be perfectly happy to go, just the two of them_.

Still, she was weak willed. As long as they were offering…

“Give me five minutes,” she said, feeling her heart flutter when both of them grinned.

 _They don’t mean it like that_ … _And even if they did_ , Setsuna thought. _You can’t be with them. Not when you’re destined to return to the doors._

_It would just go badly for all of us…_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Setsuna was quite confused by dinner’s location. Normally, when she went out with the two, Michiru took them to elegant restaurants with French cuisine or fugu licenses where the prices were those of the kind that made the inner senshi gape. This though, was quite a different sort of place. It was tucked away in a crowded neighborhood of nightclubs and drunken merry makers for one, and it seemed quite small in comparison to most of the grand places she’d been with the two of them.

“Are you… sure about this place?” she asked when the hostess escorted them into the low key dining room far below what she was used to from Michiru’s standards.

“I know it’s different,” Michiru rushed to say. “The food isn’t all to my taste.”

“She orders the same exact thing every single time we come here – even if they don’t currently have it on the menu.”

“But it is _quiet_ ,” Michiru explained. “And when I want a date without the chance of a server trying his best not to ask questions or stares from other guests, I come here.”

There were six other full tables in the dining room. And it took her a moment to realize what was strange about them. All the couples seated at the tables were women.

“Is this a women’s restaurant?” she asked.

“Of course: this is Ni-Chōme.” Haruka said.

“What does that … mean?”

“It means we still need to get you out more,” Haruka chuckled as they sat down. Their table was small, with a single candle in the middle. Haruka and Michiru were close enough for their legs to brush hers beneath the table.

“And even here, this is one of just a few places that couldn’t care less that my face is all over the papers now,” Michiru said. “And for that, I am very grateful.”

 _Why bring me here with them then?_ Setsuna wondered. _This seems perfect for their date spot_.

“Okay watch,” Haruka whispered as the waitress approached to take their orders. “It’s going to be the salmon.”

“I’ll have the tempura prawns,” Michiru said.

“What?” Haruka gaped. “But… but…”

“I guess I should have bet money,” Setsuna smirked.

“You should have,” Michiru laughed.

“But… you said nothing compared!” Haruka frowned.

“Well I felt like trying something different tonight,” she winked towards them as she propped her head up on her hand. “You never know when you’ll find something else that can’t compare.”

Setsuna suddenly felt quite a bit warmer and wished she still had the menu to hide behind. She had thought herself quite adept at controlling her emotions. But the longer she spent in Linear time the more she realized there had simply been a lack of strong situations to instigate them.

For instance blushing. She’d only ever blushed a few times in her long memory until she’d been reborn here. Now it seemed she could blush at the oddest things.

And Michiru was particularly adept at setting it off.

If either of them noticed the red on her face, they didn’t say anything,

Dinner was lovely, and they had not been lying about the tea selection. She wound up grateful for the meal as her week-long equivalent of time spent behind the doors had left her with a desire for food that was nearly on par with her desire for Haruka and Michiru’s company.

But even as she laughed with them as they caught eachother up on the little things they’d missed during the hectic week, she couldn’t quite relax in the crowded room.

They were surrounded by couples.

Was this a date?

 _Perhaps they meant it to be_ , she thought as they walked back to the car. Michiru hung on her arm, yawning as she leaned into Setsuna. And Haruka walked beside her, hand brushing Setsuna’s repeatedly as they walked.

She was still feeling light and giddy from dinner, or perhaps from the wine. And she laughed along with Michiru as Haruka brightened the night with her dry humor and joined them as they sang along to the snatches of music that drifted through the crowded streets.

It wasn’t to last though.

“Tenoh-san!” someone shouted. Haruka grabbed her hand, leading the three of them as they sprinted onto a side-street ahead of the camera flash.

“Damnit,” Haruka cursed. “What are they doing out at midnight?”

“I don’t know, but surely this hounding is considered stalking,” Michiru fumed.

Setsuna glanced back out at the main street. “I’ll get us back to the car.” She said, releasing Michiru and transforming into Sailor Pluto. She summoned the doors and led them in, then back out, right next to the new Ferrari’s parking spot.

Setsuna was quiet the whole way home after that, in the backseat with Michiru, who had fallen asleep against her shoulder when they were nearly home.

“You’re thinking hard about something,” Haruka said as she parked the car. “Did you like it?”

“Dinner?” Setsuna wondered as she climbed out of the back, watching Haruka scoop up Michiru and lift her out of the car without once bumping her against the door. _I could never be that graceful_. “Yes… it was nice. I just…”

“What?”

“Well,” Setsuna said as they fell into step together, walking towards the elevator. “Wouldn’t you have liked it better as just the two of you.”

“No,” Haruka countered. “I mean it’s always nice to go out with Michiru…it’s equally nice to be out with you.”

“I just mean, it would have been a real date for you,” Setsuna said. They reached the elevator and the doors opened as soon as she pressed the button.

Haruka shook her head, glancing down at Michiru. “You are sleeping through the important part,” she nagged her. Then she looked at Setsuna, leaning back against the wall of the elevator as it continued to rise up to the top floor. “It was a real date,” she said.

“I may misunderstand what a date is classed as then, seeing as I was there with the two of you.” Setsuna whispered.

Haruka glanced down at Michiru again, as if she were nervous. “I am butchering this,” she said then she looked at Setsuna again. “It was a real date – With you.”

_With me…_

“I told her we should have been clearer about it, but she thought subtlety was better,” Haruka continued. “It was a date between the three of us… I mean if you want it to be,” she whispered. Her face was pink. “I liked it.”

Setsuna was frozen as the elevator dinged their floor. “But…” she stammered. “You love each other… you don’t have to do that for me.”

“We wanted to,” Haruka said. Walking forwards. Setsuna backed out of the opened elevator doors, stopped when she backed into the wall. Haruka stopped too, brows drawn tThe future where she kissed Haruka sprang to the front of her mind.

“But…” Setsuna stammered. “But you can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because…I can’t let the two of you pity me like that.”

“Pity?”

“I know you feel bad that I’m lonely,” she said, shaking her head. “But you don’t have to put a strain on your relationship for me.”

Haruka gaped at her.

“Michiru and you are beautiful together,” Setsuna said. “I wouldn’t want to be the one who ruined that…especially as I’ll eventually have to leave,” she smiled sadly at Haruka. “I don’t want to complicate things for any of us.”

“B-but,”

“I’ll leave the two of you to yourselves tomorrow,” Setsuna said transforming into Pluto in a flash. “Have a real date with her, you won’t have to think about my feelings.”

“S-suna – Pluto!” Haruka shouted.

But she’d already summoned the time doors, backing into them and slamming them shut. She leaned her head against the wood and covered her eyes with her hand. Her tears soaked through her glove.

 _I did like dinner,_ Setsuna thought. _But it wouldn’t work forever_.

She couldn’t exactly know, given Michiru’s vanished future and her refusal to look at her own. But she was sure in any case. She knew it, as surely as she knew she was meant to guard the doors forever and that she’d been failing at it.

 _I’ve already caused disturbances to linear time that I would have destroyed another Time Traveler for_ , she thought. _And now look what I’ve done. They know about my feelings and they’re trying to accommodate them._

_Even if they think it will work now, whether I had to leave or not, it wouldn’t work forever. They’d never love me like they love eachother._

_I’m getting in the way of the best love I’ve ever seen,_ Pluto thought, her hand tightened on the Garnet rod as she straightened and turned towards the endless time dimension.

_I can’t let that happen._

She could start by making sure that picture of the three of them didn’t reach the papers. They hadn’t caught her face, but it still wouldn’t do for the papers to see Michiru Kaioh hanging on a mysterious woman’s arm as Haruka Tenoh walked along beside them. The headlines would go nuts.

 _I’m destined to watch over them from afar,_ she thought. _That’s what I’m going to do_.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Usagi sighed twirling around under the pink and white blossoms that decorated all the trees in the Boston Public Garden. They reminded her of the cherry blossoms back in Tokyo. She had teleported into the park and had been thoroughly enjoying strolling through it – and also enjoying the lack of stares.

News of the Senshi had not had much mind paid to it in The States, according to Mamo-chan. And while Luna had said to be careful, Usagi hadn’t been able to help herself, she’d teleported into the park holding a wide-brimmed hat to hide her crescent mark, but after five minutes of walking boldly along its walkways at noon without anyone glancing at her twice, she’d thrown the hat into the air, letting the wind carry it away.

She hadn’t found Mamo yet. But that was okay. The park couldn’t be very big. And she was enjoying the chance to be just normal Usagi.

She found the Shittenou first, Kunzite and Zoicite in the midst of a football game with several other young people and Jadeite standing off to the side with his arms crossed.

 _“He’s the youngest and he still feels like he has something to prove. He’s having the most trouble adjusting”_ Mamo-chan had said. “ _I’ve told him his life’s about more than orders now, but he still can’t seem to bring himself to just have fun_.”

She approached Jadeite then, calling his name. She beamed when he braced himself for a hug rather than immediately dropping into a bow. He was learning. “We’re missing you guys!” she said to Jadeite, bouncing as she looked around them. “Where’s Mamo-chan.”

“Down by the pond,” Jadeite said, pointing across the field from the football game to the bench where she could see Mamo-chan’s black hair shining in the sunlight. “I promise, I didn’t tell him you were coming.”

“Okay!” Usagi grinned, linking her arms behind her back and tip-toing around the football game, through the flocks of ducks and geese, down to the pond’s edge where she saw Mamo-chan had his medical textbooks open on the seat beside him and his notes in his lap.

He was sketching one of the swans in the margin.

She leaned in, “Hello,” she said. She grinned as he stiffened and whipped around, eyes wide as he stared at her. “Someone’s working hard.”

“You’re here,” Mamo-chan gaped, still staring at her.

“Of course I am.” Usagi said, putting her hands on her hips and winking at him. “You can run to America to get away from me Mamo-chan,” she said. “But not even that will stop me.”

“Usako!” he gasped, knocking over his books as he stood, jumped over the bench and swept her off her feet. He grinned and laughed as he spun her and then held her close, their foreheads and their noses pressed together.

“Is everyone okay?” he whispered.  
“Mostly,” she said. “It’s been quiet this week – Rei’s nearly better.”

“How are you.”

“I am perfect,” Usagi said. “All I needed was you… and now you’re right here.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Ami,” Daichi asked, reaching across the café table and grabbing her hand, stopping it from drumming against the table. “Something wrong?”

She blinked, her other hand in her purse, rolling the flash-drive that held the Mercurian Malware between her fingers. “Sorry,” she shook her head and smiled at him. “I’m a mess for a date today – I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Daichi rushed to say, squeezing her hand. “I mean, that fight you had on Sunday has been all over the news – I’m surprised you kept our date actually – I saw you get hit in the TV tower fight. I’m surprised your ribs aren’t broken.”

“We heal fast,” Ami assured him. In truth the 8th rib on her left side still twinged.  She was sure it was bruised, but she’d gone to school with worse.

Besides, she had cancelled on him twice already. And he was still eager to see her. _It’s kind of nice that he knows about Mercury,_ Ami decided. _And he understands… even if he does want to talk about it a lot._

But, she supposed, as she half-answered or deflected another few questions about the ensuing battle (he was full of them) considering he was completely new to the world of the senshi, it was okay that he had so many questions.

 _And he doesn’t act like Mina’s family, and he doesn’t listen to the press,_ Ami reasoned as he offered her a piece of his chocolate tart. She took a calculated gamble and leaned over the table to eat it right off his fork. Daichi laughed. Ami blushed as she smiled at him. _And besides… I’m getting better at these dates._

They’d just ordered another coffee, and she’d successfully moved the topic of conversation away from the senshi and on to book he was reading when the communicator on her wrist began to sound an alarming number of beeps.

“What’s that?” Daichi wondered as Ami stood up from the table.

She’d finally gotten the tracking program for the sunspots  working at 2:00 this morning.

 _They’re close,_ she thought, staring out the windows. Around the café, patrons had risen from their tables. She flipped open the communicator as she scanned around the café and out the long row of windows that overlooked the bay. “Stay seated,” she said in a loud, clear voice. She hoped against hope they’d listen to her.

“Lunar Command,” she spoke to the communicator. “Activity status.”

“ _Detecting fifteen signatures_ ,” it announced. “ _35\. 1006 degrees North; 136.88 degrees East._ ”

 _Off the coast,_ she said, focusing on the windows as she held her hand up in a stop gesture.

“1o km below sea level, rising: 210 km per hour.”

 _I have 2.8 minutes until they breach the surface._ “Everyone,” she ordered the café. “Stay inside.” And she rushed out, knocking over her bag and leaving her date as she ran out of the building, transforming as she ran through the door.

The Mercury computer was still in need of repair. But her visor worked fine, she wished she had the pair back together as the visor did not yet have the detection program loaded onto it.

“Direction of travel,” she asked the Lunar Command center.

_13 degrees, 87 % consistency.”_

Her visor could show her her own coordinates, could track her pace, she guessed the point in the sea where they might be, the angle they’d be approaching land at relative to their rise in elevation. _There’s fifteen of them_. She bit her lip as she began to run along the sidewalk, keeping the ocean in sight. _I wish I could do anything as just me…_

“Enemy approaching from the water,” she said into the communicator. “Get to the amusement park near the delta, they’ll reach land close to that point: 1 minute.

 _“On my way,_ ” Makoto responded.

“Hang on!” Usagi shouted, and 30 seconds later she saw a flash of light from behind her and heard Sailor Moon’s boots on the pavement as she raced with her. _I hope Athena could do that too.._.

 _“We’re headed there now,”_ Haruka’s voice crackled through the communicator. “ _Five minutes.”_

 _“Four,”_ Jupiter shouted.

“ _I’m coming as fast as I can,”_ Chibi Moon shouted.

Ami stopped short as her visor began to flash, detecting something abnormal near the surface of the bay.

“Three,” she whispered. Sailor Moon’s hand squeezed her shoulder. “Two… one.”

A mass of darkness exploded out of the sea, separating into fifteen sunspots  that soared towards land.

Behind her, Sailor Moon took to the air, her wings carrying her up, up, up until she could match the sunspots height.

“Sailor Moon!” she said into her communicator. “Try to get them to the beach – left of the pier.”

They’d to the least damage there. She raced on foot as Sailor Moon shot an attack, killing two of the sunspots and making several more recoil away. They followed her, but their attacks, Mercury frowned, were nothing like the simple blasts of dark energy they had used before. But from this far below, she couldn’t discern their make up.

 _These came from the Earth… is that the reason_ , she thought as she chased after Sailor Moon, leaping up and shooting off as many attacks as she could at the sunspots. She cried out as Sailor Moon did, hit by an attack that sent her tumbling down onto the narrowest part of the beach, just meters from the busy pier. She got up and took flight again, low to the ground movements haphazard. Her wings were damaged.

 _I can’t tell them anything without the computer!_ Mercury fretted as she raced to keep up.

 _Oak Evolution_ crashed into the Sunspots from the top of a seaside condominium and she saw Jupiter crash the hammer down on three of them as she landed on the beach.

Mercury saw another blast of pink magic from the top of the pier as Chibi Moon leapt down into the battle, closely followed by the twin attacks of Uranus and Neptune.

 _If only I could be so useful on my own,_ Mercury said, as she calculated the damage done to the sunspots and the angles they needed to work from the have the best advantage.

“Mercury look out!” Neptune shouted. She dove to the ground, turning and releasing an _Aqua Rhapsody_ from her hands that met the sunspot’s attack mid air, the attacks cancelled eachother in a hissing mess of steam.

“They burn!” she shouted, puzzled. This was different than the absolute cold of their dark blasts.

“ _Uranus World Shaking_!” Uranus attack slammed into the sunspot that had hit her, reducing its size by half. It let off another attack, swiftly cancelled by Chibi Moon’s new _Moon Freezing Heartache._

But this time Mercury’s visor did get her a clear look at the attack’s composition.

 _It looks like…rose petals,_ Mercury frowned. _Black rose petals…_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Pluto’d been in the Time dimension for a while. She’d forced herself not to calculate in days. It made her relate more to linear time, made her think of how long it had been since she’d had a tea or coffee or hug. No, thinking in days was a dangerous business. And she was resolute. She was committed to her duty. No more meddling in linear time. It was too dangerous…for others feelings and her own.

She saw Mercury detect the attack and focused on the bay as soon as she determined that was where Ami’d seen them coming from. Was there any danger the Guardian of Wisdom had not seen.

 _Yes_ , in addition to the fifteen approaching land, five more had split away, rising towards the surface much further out and as individual sunspots rather than a group. They were 17 km away from the shore, possibly too far for Mercury to see.

But there were those in danger out here. At exactly 16:13, a cruiseliner would pass over the ocean at the same moment the sunspots breached the surface. She couldn’t see the sunspots. But she could see the ships in the bay. This one looked set to lose power for unknown reasons only to capsize before the lifeboats had been utilized.

 _This I can do,_ Sailor Pluto decided, going back about five minutes before Mercury’s fight with the other sunspots had started.  _This is an interference I can justify._

She opened the time doors onto the bay and directed her attention to the seemingly calm water below and the ship powering slowly and obliviously across it.

 _Get them a little closer to land,_ Pluto decided. She raised the Garnet Rod.

 _"Dead Scream._ "

The sphere of energy blasted out of her weapon, landing in the water just behind the ship. It created a massive wave fo water that would carry the cruiseliner all the way to land, potentially beaching it unless the captain was a good gambler. He had a 27% chance of docking it as normal.

 _But they’ll all live,_ Pluto determined, glancing around to see if any more ships might have trouble with an emerging sunspot.

She didn’t see the attack coming until it was already upon her, a flurry of black rose petals searing her skin as they pelted her arms and face. They even burned through the torso of her uniform. She stumbled back into the time dimension and heard the splash as the sunspot crashed out of the ocean.

It dove through the open time doors, more black rose petals burning her as it created them, the flowers whipping through the sand and fog.

 _Oh no._ she gritted her teeth and raised the Garnet rod towards it. _This is my domain._

“ _Chronos Typhoon!”_ She shouted, the powerful attack tearing a chunk out of the sunspot.

Then two more joined it, blasting through the just-closed Time Doors with black rose petals and thorns spewing forth from them. She deflected them by spinning the garnet rod and panted.

One. She could take. Three. She could not. Not at her current power level.

She needed to get them out of Time.

They were advancing towards her, uninterested for now in the wealth of possibility that existed within this realm.

 _Good_. She thought. She held both arms over her face as she ran through another onslaught of their attacks, barreling through the time doors and diving down, hearing them shriek as they followed her.

“ _Dark Dome Close!_ ” she shouted. The time doors vanished just as she crashed into the Pacific.

She sank down ten feet before she had gotten her bearings; she kicked her feet and and held the Garnet Rod in a defensive pose as she raced back to the surface.

She gasped as she broke through the surface of the ocean. Looking around for the sunspots.

They were gone.

She raised the garnet rod, about to summon back her doors when something _freezing_ touched her ankle.

She had exactly one second to inhale as big a breath as she could before she was jerked beneath the waves.

She looked down as she was dragged deeper and deeper beneath the surface. She could see the light within the sunspot now: bright yellow, and another white light rushing towards them from far below, and two more coming at them from the sides.

 _I can still escape_ , she thought, knocking one away with the Garnet Rod. She’d done voiceless attacks before. Compared to Linear time’s senshi, she’d had eons to practice them.

 _Dead Scream_! Her attack hit the sunspot attached to her ankle and sent her rocketing back towards the fresh air. The white sunspot far below dodged.

As she rose though, another met her from above, knocking her back as a blast of scalding, black rose petals hit her in the chest, knocking half the air she held from her lungs. It raced away from her in a stream of bubbles and she put a hand over her face to stop any other air from escaping her. Her right hand raised the Garnet Rod again, as she glanced all around. There were still four!

 _Chronos Typho –_ but she was cut off when the attack had nearly launched by four simultaneous attacks. Thorns shredded through her gloves and leotard, flower petals burned her arms and legs.

And one of the sunspots let off their normal, freezing blast at her chest. The rest of her air was knocked out of her. Two sunspots wrapped around her boots, and another around her right arm, wrenching the Garnet Rod from her grasp.

The fourth and fifth attached themselves to her legs, making them go numb as they dragged her through the endless blue of the ocean, down towards the Japan trench and the ocean floor. The water around her turned from blue to black until the only thing she could see were the sunspots pinpricks of light as they dragged her down.

 _Hold on,_ a voice in her head commanded

She would drown. How undignified a fate for an eternal Guardian of Time. Pluto kicked and kicked against their hold, but her legs struggled to work right, trapped in the sunspots icy tendrils.

And her movement was using up precious oxygen. She kept her hand firmly over her mouth and nose as her head grew dizzy. Her lungs strained to expand, to inhale, to bring more air in.

There was no air around her.

She stopped fighting.

_Hold on._

She’d choked on water once, the incident that had prompted Michiru to teach her how to swim. It had burned, and her lungs had felt bruised for _hours_ afterwards.

 _Hold on_.

Would she at least pass out if there was no air to keep her conscious? Or would she die in pain.

 _HOLD ON_.

She chanced a look up, squinting through the blackness. She could see none of the beautiful sun above, nor any life in the sea, only the faintest of aqua glows far overhead.

She closed her eyes. All her ideas of trying not to hurt them by staying and this might end up hurting them anyway.  She shouldn’t have left after dinner yesterday. She should have stayed with them.

 _Haruka… Michiru_ …

_I’M RIGHT HERE!_

She saw, through her closed eyes, the aqua glow from far above overwhelming the darkness. Her hand fell away from her face. She was too tired. She might as well let the water end her.

It was funny, the past three times she had died, there had been darkness.

 _You’re_ NOT _dying_ , the voice in her head insisted. _I’m almost there!_ She recognized that voice.

_Michiru…_

_I’m here!_

A warm hand grabbed her by the chin, tilting her head up. Another hand pinched her nose shut.

Someone warm and soft sealed their mouth over hers, breathing air, not water, into her starved lungs.

Pluto opened her eyes. Neptune's brilliant aqua ones gazed back at her, her tiara was blazing.

_Hold on,_ Neptune commanded. She wrapped one hand around Pluto’s waist and summoned the Aqua Mirror with the other, aiming it down at the five sunspots still dragging at Pluto’s legs.

Neptune had never attacked voicelessly, but the _Submarine Reflection_ that exploded out of the Aqua Mirror was more powerful than any she’d ever seen her use. The force of the attack tore the sunspots away and sent the two of them shooting up, up, up, through the depths of the sea. Pluto saw the water around them change from black, to navy, to blue, and then to the bright, yellow of the surface and the distinct circle of the sun above the water.

They flew out of the water, fifteen feet into the air. She and Neptune both gasped in a fresh breath at the same time. The sunspots were hot on their tail.

 _“Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!”_ Sailor Moon’s attack vanquished three of the five, their crystal shards falling back into the ocean. Still in the air, Pluto summoned the Garnet Rod, she and Neptune sent their attacks off at the same time even as they fell through the air, landing in the water as both attacks, and a World shaking from the east, tore the final two sunspots apart.

They hit the water with a mighty splash, Neptune doing most of the work of getting them back to the surface. Pluto coughed as they treaded water.

“Are you alright?” Sailor Moon called from above. When she looked up she could see Haruka’s helicopter barreling towards them.

“Fine!” Neptune called up to her. “Give us a hand!”

Sailor Moon did, flying Pluto up to the chopper and then going back for Neptune.

Pluto de-transformed as soon as she’d stumbled into the back of the sturdy craft, collapsing to her knees on the metal floor, the salt water in her hair soaking through her warm, dry, civilian clothes.

“Setsuna!” Haruka called, turning around in the pilot’s seat.

“I’m okay,” she coughed, coming her hair out of her face and then putting a hand to her lips. Neptune had…

Just then, Sailor Moon flew back up to the doors of the Helicopter carrying a furious looking Michiru. As the both of them climbed into the craft, Sailor Moon shut the door and Michiru stormed up to her, kneeling in front of her and grabbing her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug.

“Never, do that, again,” Michiru swore, resting her head on top of Setsuna’s. Michiru’d left their connection wide open. So Setsuna clearly heard her next thought. _That is_ not _how I wanted to kiss you… especially not our first time._

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Makoto sighed as she made her way back to the shop. It was far past lunchtime now, and far past the time the commuters would stop in on their way home. It was even cloudy out. There would be rain within the hour. So not even staying open late would help her make up the day’s sales.

At least they’d won the fight. Even if her shop sales had suffered.

She expected the bakery to be closed. She didn’t expect Nephrite to be leaning against the door.

“You did ask me to stay back,” he said. “I may not be very powerful,” he said. “But I can help in these fights.”

She shook her head. “Pluto nearly died,” she said, kicking a loose pebble on the sidewalk with her shoe. “It’s not that I think you can’t fight – it’s that these are so… unlike any enemy we’ve had before… and you still have your concussion from the TV tower.”

“Hotaru says I’m right as storms,” Nephrite defended. “She did help with the healing.”

“Right as rain,” she corrected him, wondering if he’d been getting his idioms from Mina again.

“I know,” Nephrite grinned. “But storms sound more right to me.”

A smile tugged at her lips. And then he turned and she saw through the door of the shop: the whole glass display case empty despite she and Usagi being gone all afternoon.

“You ran the shop…” she murmured.

“I had to do something useful,” Nephrite said. “I did initially mean to run to join your fight, but by the time I’d have gotten there it’d have been nearly over.” He shrugged. “I thought you might need me here.”

She beamed at him, rushing forwards and cinching her arms around his neck as she kissed him.

“And,” he said when they broke apart, opening the door to the shop behind him. “I have another surprise for you.”

His surprise was dinner, laid out on a blanket on the shop floor. He snapped his fingers and the lights inside and from outside the windows dimmed, and then dozens of bright lights winking on overhead. She gasped as she sat down on the blanket, craning her neck to sea.

“I am still going to try to help in your fights,” he said. “That is what these powers exist for…but in the meantime…” he waved his hand, and all the stars overhead grew brighter, as though they really were outside, far from the city, seeing all of them clearly. She could make out the large, yellow light of Jupiter to her left. It seemed to wink at her.

“This is beautiful,” she whispered as he settled down beside her.

“I can think of someone more beautiful,” he said, and overhead the stars rearranged, into a portrait of her, the symbol of her planet winked from her forehead and the hammer was slung over her shoulder.

She looked between it, and him, and finally at dinner and gaped. She could tell he’d homemade it – everything here was a dish she’d taught him. Including the vegetables, which he’d burned like he always did.

“I know you deserve far finer cuisine,” he said dramatically. “But does this meet your approval?”

“Hell yes it does,” she said, turning towards him and dragging his face up to hers, still amazed sometimes that he didn’t seem to mind her being a full two inches taller. “Thank you,” she said as she kissed him again, laughing as she knocked him back, nearly pitching them both to the floor had he not propped himself up on his elbows. “I thought you’d be mad.”

“Only at myself,” he said. “the power you all wield now has left our petty magic in the dust.”

“Don’t feel bad,” Makoto scoffed. “You were trapped in a rock for four years – you have plenty of catching up to do.”

“I know, and someday I hope I’ll be strong enough to support you as Mamoru can support Usagi,” he said. “But until then, I hope you don’t mind if I do so in simpler ways.” He laced his hand with hers, lightning and starlight dancing across their joined fingers. “And I’m sorry I burned the vegetables.”

“You’re too much,” she told him. One of her hands running down his torso as she kissed him again. And he kissed her back. She fumbled for the hammer, smacking it once against the floor and grinning when it did as she intended, lightning racing across the floor to the windows and lowering all the blinds around the shop.

An hour later, they had to heat up dinner in the oven.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Pluto watched the swirling sand and fog again, Michiru’s future no closer to her than before.

She hadn’t _exactly_ gotten lectured for going off on her own. Michiru had been too tired for that, and Setsuna and Haruka too focused on their renewed worry over that, particular problem. But she had gotten sequestered to the couch along with Michiru, smothered in blankets and pressed with her favorite tea.

 _“Why didn’t you call us?”_ Michiru had asked.

 _“I just… thought I could save the ship on my own and let you focus on the battle on the shore,”_ she’d said, hanging her head _. “I didn’t want to divide your attention.”_

 _“Well you did!”_ Michiru’d snapped _. “Imagine how I felt still rounding up those blasted things and suddenly realizing I could feel you dying!”_

 _“I’d probably get reborn in due time,”_ Setsuna said. _“Time can’t be without its guardian for long.”_

 _“Really?”_ Haruka’d asked. _“Cause the last few times you’ve needed the Silver Crystal to be reborn – even during the battle with the Death Busters, I bet it was Sailor Moon and Saturn’s power that did it then.”_

 _“It wouldn’t matter,”_ Setsuna’d insisted _. “I’m the eternal guardian of time. I’d have to be reborn eventually.”_

 _“But you wouldn’t be you,”_ Michiru’d whispered _. “You barely remember your first life.”_

_“I remember it perfectly,”_

_“You think so, but you must have forgotten somethings. You guarded the time doors so long, I’m sure there’s memories you don’t realize you’ve forgotten…like where you came from.”_

_“I’ve always guarded the doors,”_ Pluto’d said.

 _“But you had to have started at some point – you said you remember being told the three taboos. Told. You didn’t always know them.”_ Michiru’d bitten her lip. _“The you that would come back might not remember any of your time here. She might not remember us.”_

_“I’d always…”_

_“I don’t care!”_ Michiru’d said. _“I don’t want to find out if that’s the case.”_

Pluto sighed, calling on the sands and fog to show the two of them to her. Michiru was still on the couch though she’d left them hours ago, staring into her cold tea as Haruka rested her head on Michiru’s thigh, staring out towards the television.

 _“You love the both of us the same!”_ Haruka’d insisted, not yelling but pleading. And oh, that had made it so much worse. “ _Why can’t you believe we might love you the same as we love each other?”_

She almost did now, indeed, that had fallen to the wayside as her primary reservation.

 _“It’s still early enough in all this that my leaving won’t ruin this,”_ she’d said, gesturing to the two of them as she summoned the time doors behind her. “ _If you knew half of what I’ve already done to the timeline on my own… just by existing here… maybe my inability to see this enemy is a consequence of that.”_

 _“I’ll respond any time you call,”_ she’d continued. “ _I won’t put you in the position I did today, risking your life for mine.”_

 _“That’s not the point,”_ Michiru’d tried again.

Perhaps it wasn’t, but the fact remained that they were amazing together. And she wanted happiness for them.

And she had enough doubt about all their futures, and had abused their hospitality too much by that point to listen when they’d said they loved her.

 _“I know,”_ she’d told them. “ _I’m sorry: it was easier when I thought you didn’t.”_

She’d kept herself busy since she’d left: sabotaged enough police records that Hotaru and Chibiusa would never be found, visited the planet Neptune in person just to make absolutely sure it wasn’t any different from the others, and checked Uranus too, and had had to run from a whole horde of sunspots.

She'd forced herself not to count in linear days as soon as the doors had shut behind her. She only knew that by the time she’d done everything she could possibly do within the limits of her future knowledge, it had been a long while. She knew that much because the loneliness had begun to settle over her, and the fatigue. She had never slept within the time dimension in any of her lives, but in this current one she’d spent the least time there. Had she become so mortal that she could now fall to their vulnerabilities.

She could only measure time in those things she missed.

Long after she’d begun to ache for Michiru and Haruka’s company, and Hotaru’s laughter, and Chibiusa’s hugs, she began to miss tea. By that point, she’d realized that Michiru’s timeline truly was out of her reach. By the time she began missing the sunlight she had exhausted any and all attempts to make any sort of predictions about Crystal Tokyo. And, she’d realised, she could not recall how its original timeline had gone. Had she known it in her first life.

By the time she’d begun to miss the smelly, overcrowded subway, she’d begun to think Michiru was right. _Maybe there are gaps in my memory from reincarnation._

And maybe that meant she had forgotten the first time this enemy had entered the universe. She could, in fact, not recall having presided over any early period in the solar system’s or the universe’s history. _I need to look back,_ Pluto decided, letting the sand and fog carry her farther from the Time Doors than she had ever gone. She did not move, the sand and fog rushed past beneath her stationary feet. Her hands tightened around the Garnet Rod.

She noted as the time of the Silver Millennium rushed past, back to its beginnings on the fledgling Moon Kingdom and then past that, back to the time of the singular guardian’s of Sol.

 _No, not singular_ , Pluto frowned. _Dual, of course. I existed after all, though no one knew. I merely focused my years elsewhere. On more turbulent times and places... whichever ones they were._

Pluto rubbed her head as the pressure built up. _Farther back_ , she commanded the sands of time. _I have to see what it did the first time…_ _if there's any way to stop it..._

Before the Silver Millennium, there had been Harmonia of Venus, in her gleaming bronze skirt and dark burgundy bow.

 _She really does look quite different from Mina,_ Sailor Pluto thought. Realizing she somehow, did not know why that was, nor anything about Zeinab of Mercury, whose lifetime she entered as her head began to pound with a headache. Zeinab, whose intellect and first uniform matched Ami's perfectly, yet whose personality was wholly opposite – cocky and ambitious were not qualities she was used to seeing in Mercury’s blue uniform.

 _I wonder how different the previous Neptune was to Michiru_ , she wondered.

She was about to find out, as Zeinab of Mercury's 854 years passed her and her vision began to cloud with spots.

 _Farther back!_ she commanded.

She would see the previous guardian of Neptune soon… or perhaps herself?

 _Where was I?... why is there none of my timeline to skip?_ _Surely I have only forgotten in my current life…_

As Zeinab of Mercury's life wound back to its beginnings and the five years before her birth that Sol had been Sailorless, Pluto ground her teeth against the intensity of her headache. Had she accidentally crossed her own timeline?

"It doesn’t matter," she said aloud. "I need to go far..."

But as she raced towards that era of the past, her headache flared into a migraine. She clenched her teeth together, bowing her head against the Garnet Rod – it was hot!

 _Linear time has made you weak,_ she thought. _You just need to go a little farther back… You can do it._

She knew there had been twenty-seven guardians of Sol before the nine of them. Twenty-seven, of course, not including herself; she had always existed, outside the cycle of their star.

Surely one of those twenty-seven had encountered this enemy before... or one like it. Surely it could not have been so set on their destruction if it hadn’t been thwarted before.

 _Stop,_ someone called – not Michiru, nor Rei, nor even Hotaru with her growing strength as a psychic.

 _I have to keep going_ , Pluto thought, stepping forwards with her own feet as the rushing sand and fog beneath her began to push against her, trying to drag her back. _I need to know._

“ _Pluto_ _Spatial Arrest!”_ the voice from her thoughts shouted. And suddenly a fog the same consistency as the time dimension’s in the deep magenta of her own powers whipped up around her, pinning her legs and arms as it trapped her.

“I did say to stop,” someone called, and they appeared suddenly out of the fog, their white-gloved hand still extended from attacking her. Pluto frowned as she took in the woman whose skin was several shades browner than her own, whose eyes were a startling gold, and whose hair fell in intricate, gray braids around her face. Someone wholly different from her, wearing the colors of her own uniform – save for a single garnet stripe on her black collar, her bare shoulders, and gloves that extended only to her wrists. “Wayward Traveler,” the other Sailor Pluto said. “You have come too far.”

“Who are you,” she whispered, shocked, the pounding in her head increasing as she stared at the other Sailor Pluto. She was supposed to be the _only_ Sailor Pluto.

“I can’t answer that,” the woman said as she approached. Pluto glared at her though her head hurt more the longer she stared at her.  The woman’s gold eyes stared at her piteously. "Child," the woman shook her head. "You have come too far."

"I’m no child!" she shot back as the woman – the imposter, came close enough to touch her if she moved her arms. Pluto leaned away. "Why do you impersonate me?"

"I hardly am," the strange guardian said and she gestured to herself. "If I wanted to impersonate you, would I not use your face?"

The pounding in her head made it hard to think, hard to see, hard to breathe. She faced the strange sailor anyways. She would not be tricked.

"There is… only one guardian… of time," Pluto gasped.

"Indeed there is, alas you have ventured very far on your quest for answers and have unfortunately found those you cannot know. Turn back.”

"I do not take orders from you."

"And who is it you take orders from?"

"Ch… Chronos"

"Who are they?" the Sailor pressed "Who are they to time?"

"I… he is my father."

"How when he does not exist in anything but name?"

Pluto closed her eyes, holding the Garnet Rod tighter in her right hand though she felt it was only the strange Sailor's trap keeping her upright. "You’re trying to… trick me," she said, wincing and closing her eyes as a fresh lance of pain stabbed through her head. "You will let me pass… and cease this attack on my mind."

But the Sailor only sighed, walking forwards despite Pluto raising the Garnet Rod in a shaking hand. " _Dead Sc-_ "

"Don't." the Sailor pleaded "You will hurt yourself more." And she pushed the Garnet Rod away, putting her fingers on Pluto’s temples. They were too warm in the face of Pluto’s headache, which already burned.

"I hate what has been done to you more than I can say,” the strange Sailor said, lip curling in disgust. “As I have hated the thought of doing this since the day it came to my attention." Pluto trembled as she stared at her, seeing the woman’s tiara begin to glow the same color as her own. "I am sorry, but you need to forget this encounter. In your current state, it will only hurt you."

"Where am I?" she asked. "Why do you exist?"

"Because there is something crueler than time and fate in this universe: the living,” the Sailor whispered. “Those same as you or I who can generate such brightness." She stroked her thumbs over Pluto's temples as her face began to blur. “Are also responsible for what’s been done to you…

Pluto gasped as her headache abetted at last. She was suddenly so tired, unsure what or who had relieved her of the pain.

" _You will forget me now,”_ a strange voice said. “ _For a while longer. It will not be much longer, I promise… and Setsuna.”_

How did the voice know her name?

“ _Keep asking questions.  And do not be afraid to challenge your instincts."_

Sailor Pluto collapsed amid the fog and Ramsee, the third Sailor of Pluto, regarded her with one last mournful look and sighed.

"Take her home," she said, stepping away into the fog, back towards where her body meditated at her own Sands of Time. She yearned for them in their uncorrupted state. "Do not let her go this far again; not until she is undamaged."

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Sailor Pluto shook her head as the fog swirled. She had gone back to the very beginning, and still, nothing.

 _How long has it been for me?_ she thought.

Years, perhaps… months… eons.

Sailor Pluto shivered, turning as she heard something creak behind her.

The doors had opened onto the dark bedroom of her Tokyo home. Only twenty-four hours after she’d left it. She gasped as a sweet melody reached her music-starved ears: a piano and a violin wrapping around her from linear time, the first music she had heard in too long – far, _far_ too long.

“Michiru,” she whispered aloud. “Haruka…”

Sailor Pluto stepped out into the dark bedroom, gasping as the fresh air of linear time passed her lips, and she realized she had forgotten the taste of it.

She de-transformed into the sundress she had been wearing the last time she was here, ears focused on the beautiful music carrying through the dark penthouse. She wandered towards the music room, seeing its light reflecting off the walls as she turned left down the hallway, lured by the cadence of the violin and the sweet accompaniment of the piano. Her steps quickened to a run as she turned down the final hallway and advanced towards the music room door, slightly ajar.

She stopped just before it, fingers ghosting across the wooden door. She hesitated, closing the hand hovering near the door into a fist.

Would they want her there?

_They wanted me at dinner… and they said they love me… but I’ve been gone a whole day… won’t they be angry?_

She took a deep breath. Her instincts had been wrong before. _Surely they won’t mind if I just peek in… just to see them._

She put her fingers to the door and pushed slowly, until it was fully open, and the bright lights illuminated the figures of the two people whom she was as desperate to see as she was to hear the music they made together.

She’d always admired how well they fit together – the assertive but soft-spoken guardian of Neptune and the adventurous but shy guardian of Uranus.

She leaned into the doorway and watched them play, lulled into a daze by the magical sounds of Michiru’s violin and the companion melody of Haruka’s fingers dancing across the piano keys.

 _Why must they be so beautiful_? she sighed. They were dressed as if for a black tie occasion: Michiru in a deep blue gown that sparkled under the music room’s bright lights, and Haruka in a fitted white tux that matched the polished piano she played.

She listened through one song, then the next, and would have been content to listen for the entire night, but Haruka rose from her seat as the second song ended.

She seemed to float away from the piano as its soft notes faded from the room. Setsuna looked at Michiru. They were ending already?

But Michiru winked at her, putting her bow to the violin and breaking into a solo.

And then Haruka was in front of her, bowing and extending her hand, a devilish smirk tugging at her lips.

“Come on, dance with me,” Haruka whispered. Setsuna glanced over at Michiru again, but her focus was entirely taken up by the instrument she played.

She could not count the number of her years since she had seen them.

Haruka’s dark blue eyes were sparkling, her foot tapping against the floor.

“I can’t dance,” Setsuna whispered.

“Sure you can,” Haruka said, voice as enticing as the sweet violin music. “It’s easy – I’ll lead.”

She stared into Haruka’s eyes for half-a-beat longer, before giving in to the temptation, setting her hand in Haruka’s and letting herself be led.

Haruka pulled her forwards, into the empty center of the room. She felt entirely underdressed in her flower printed sundress as she followed Haruka’s steps. Left, right, left, right. One, two, three, four…

“What’d I tell you,” Haruka laughed as they took their cues from Michiru’s violin, falling into a gentle waltz around the music room.

Her nerves made her stomach flutter and her hands sweat, and occasionally caused her steps to falter. But Haruka was confident; her steps, unwavering. She met Setsuna’s eyes surely as they danced, even when Setsuna stepped on her feet. With each step, each turn, and each excited note of the violin, her nerves ebbed away. By the end of the first song Setsuna was smiling. By the much faster second one she was laughing as Haruka twirled her around the room.  During the third song they traded off as the lead, and Michiru laughed when Haruka tripped over her own feet – unaccustomed to the steps of the following partner.

Michiru began the fourth song, and Setsuna shrieked and laughed as Haruka surprised her by lifting her off the floor, spinning her round. When she was on her feet again, she spun away – skirt whipping around her knees – until she was leaning away from Haruka: joined to her only by her left hand clasped firmly in Haruka’s right, with both their arms fully extended between them.

Then Haruka pulled her back in, until she was flush against her with Haruka’s other hand resting on her hip.

“And you said you couldn’t dance,” Haruka teased as Michiru changed the tune, quickening the tempo. Haruka enlivened their pace to match. It wasn’t long before they found their rhythm. Then they were soaring. Haruka was grinning. And Setsuna was grinning as she followed her. Step by step, they raced across the floor – through spins, twists, and dips…

And in one final crashing note they ended. And Setsuna was bent backwards, one leg hooked around Haruka’s calf.  Her face was hot as she stared up at Haruka, realizing how close they were and how Haruka’s hand held the small of her back. Her breath caught as she saw how Ruka’s eyes had darkened; her pupils so wide, Setsuna could see her own eyes in them.

Haruka’s other hand released hers, caressing up over her wrist, up her arm, to her shoulder. It teased the strap of her dress and curved up around her neck. Then Haruka was holding the back of her head, long fingers curled firmly into her hair.

Setsuna trembled against her. She didn’t want to break this trance. She couldn’t bring herself to pull away.  Her heart hammered in her chest. It had been ten beats since the end of the song. What was Haruka still doing holding her?

In the background the violin clacked as it was set down on its stand.

“Take a chance,” Haruka whispered, voice low and husky. Her hot breath caressed Setsuna’s face. “Trust us.”

And then the hand holding her head was drawing her closer, pressing their faces closer together. She watched with wide eyes as Haruka’s eyes closed, her face impossibly close, and when soft lips pressed against hers, she stopped breathing, stopped moving, just froze…

“Don’t run,” Haruka’s lips whispered against her own. They didn’t push, or suck, or nip. They only barely brushed hers. “Please, don’t run.”

Setsuna kissed her back.

Her mind was so blissfully blank as it had never been before. She was kissing Haruka. All the knowledge of time and space, destinies and prophecies, pasts and fixed points was washed away as Haruka’s lips slid against her own. She was kissing Haruka. Her hands found Haruka’s shirt and grasped the material, holding on as long as they could as her knees shook beneath her.

Another hand, with finely calloused fingers, slid across her back to hold her up. When Haruka released her she was grateful for the support. Dizzy and panting, she whimpered when Haruka pulled away, her fingers tightening in her shirt. No, no that couldn’t be all. She couldn’t only get one.

“It’s okay,” Michiru whispered. A soft palm and calloused fingers cupped her chin, guiding her face downward as Michiru slipped between she and Haruka, pressed close to Setsuna.

Michiru shifted against her, rising up on her tip-toes. “I just wanted to kiss you too.” Dazzling teal eyes meet hers. “May I?”

Setsuna nodded.

And then Michiru was on her breath as sweet lips explored her own, parting them. Michiru’s tongue pushed its way into her mouth in a more forceful kiss that sent her swooning. Her fingers faltered in their hold on Haruka’s shirt, and her arms fell limply to her sides.

“Michiru you’re going to break her,” Ruka murmured, both her hands now keeping Setsuna from slipping to the floor.

“She likes it.” Michiru hummed. She pulled away, studying Setsuna’s heavy-lidded eyes. “At least I think so… tell me we’re not reading you entirely wrong?”

“No,” she whispered hoarsely, shaking her head fervently. “No. You have me right… you have me.”

The look on Michiru’s face was hungry and powerful. “Come to bed.”

Setsuna felt the rip tide pulling her in.

“Michi…” Haruka warned. “That isn’t slo–”

Setsuna let it pull her under. “Yes.”

“We can just sleep,” Michiru whispered, cupping her face. “Go slow. If you want.”

“I-I want…” Setsuna couldn’t think. She stumbled over her words in her kiss-scrambled brain as she stared at Michiru, Haruka’s warm hands still supporting her back.

Finally, she settled on another way. She leaned into Michiru again, cupping her face in both hands. She kissed her hard – the way she’d seen Haruka do after a long day.

Short nails dug into the back of her neck. A heady moan escaped the lips she kissed with her own.

“Well then.” Someone – Haruka, grabbed her hand as she pulled away from Michiru. “Come on, Suna.”

_~Á Suivre~_


	12. Reconnaissance Parties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re about to get plot heavy, battle heavy, and family drama heavy again. It is the final quarter of Arc 1. We only have 4 chapters left. I still don't own this, and I'm still dropping Michiru hints if you can catch what they are...

**Reconnaissance Parties**

Setsuna woke up quite disoriented: it was already 9:14, long after dawn when she usually woke.

 _Time feels slower today,_  she decided,  _interesting..._  It was hardly something she minded at the moment.

She nestled into her pillow, firmer than usual, but comfortingly warm as well. Everything around her felt warm and soft. She yawned.  _I_   _might just go back to sleep_. She was somehow more tired that even the days she stayed over at the University lab early on in her human life, or simply wandered Tokyo, unable to sleep.

And she was  _so_  comfortable. She stretched out her mind towards the near future… 9:17 now... 10:45 was when Hotaru would sneak in for a weekend visit.

 _Good_ , Setsuna thought,  _I can stay in bed with Haruka and Michiru a little longer…_

Haruka and Michiru.

She jerked up, lifting her head from Haruka’s shoulder.  _It wasn't a dream_.

Certainly not – it felt too real. It was still real. She was so tired, and comfortable, and even a little sore because... she blushed, eyes widening as the memories of last night rushed back to her – every detail. She bit her lip lest she accidentally gasp, or begin rambling, or laughing... that would wake Haruka. Setsuna glanced down at her. Haruka was smiling in her sleep…  _Oh goodness_. They still weren’t wearing clothes. And Haruka's body was flush with hers. Her skin was so soft…

Someone shifted against her back –  _Michiru –_ and pressed a kiss between her shoulders.

"Good morning," Michiru whispered, her voice husky.

"Morning..." Setsuna turned her head to see Michiru, who had propped herself up on her elbow. Sunlight shifted beautifully across her curves.

Michiru cupped Setsuna's cheek and kissed her properly. "How do you feel?"

"I'm…" the night before played its best moments back through her thoughts.  _She's really here. They’re really here. They really feel... We really, really..._  "Dazed," she settled on. "A bit dazed."

"But you're okay?"

"Why wouldn’t I be?" She felt Haruka curl her arm tighter around her waist and smiled.

"Firsts can be overwhelming," Michiru said, fingers playing with Setsuna's hair. "Mine was wonderful, but I was very relieved when I didn’t wake up alone." She smiled down at Haruka. "And if you want to talk... Haruka  _is_  awake."

"Mmm not," Haruka muttered and she rolled them over, making Setsuna gasp, and snuggled in so that Setsuna was now her pillow. "Come back to bed, Michiru."

~ _AgeofAquarius~_

Hotaru managed to get past her father that morning with the excuse that she had a fever. She’d used Chibiusa’s trick – holding the thermometer close to one of the many lamps in her room. She’d faked chills for good measure, and she only felt a little bad for abusing her father’s trust so blatantly.

But it had been  _a whole week_ since Mama-Suna had dropped her off after the battle with that evil snake. And she’d heard nothing from them save their nightly phone calls. Which were very nice, but she couldn’t tell at all if they were lying when they said everything was fine. They were too good at lying when she wasn’t there in person.

They were probably fine. Mama-Suna’d said she was handling whatever was wrong with Mama-Michiru. And Hotaru’s communicator hadn’t gone off all week.

Her hand fell to the butterfly clip that held her purse shut – the communicator was hidden inside. It was disconcerting not having it on her wrist, but ever since the others had been outed everyone in Tokyo knew what a Sailor communicator looked like. Chibiusa had had to hide hers too.

She hopped up and down on her toes at the bus stop for five whole minutes before it finally showed up. It was only one bus and one transfer to her moms’ condominium. Or perhaps just the one bus: she was so eager to see them she might take the shortcut and run the rest of the way.

Nearly an hour later though, stuck on the highway, Hotaru realized she should have forgone the buses all together.

 _I might have done better running the whole way_ , Hotaru groaned.  _Why does traffic have to suck_?

She checked her phone: 10:24.  _They’ll all have gone to do stuff by the time I get there,_  she sulked.

As she was putting her phone away, the bus hit a bump and it fell from her hand. “Shit!” she muttered, leaning down to get it.

“ _Language_!” the older woman in the seat in front of her snapped and whipped around. “What would your parents say if they heard you spitting nasty words like that?”

“They’d say there’s lots of things nastier than words,” Hotaru snapped back.

The old lady sputtered, fixing her with a stern look. “And what are you doing out of school? And not in your uniform!”

Hotaru sighed, sucked up her pride, and called up her best acting. “I’m sorry I was rude. I am excused from school today. I’m visiting my mother,”

“Any decent mother’d send you right to school,” the stuffy old lady said. She could see all the people around them making the same judging face.

 _Great_ , Hotaru thought, ignoring them as she crouched down to reach her phone.

As her fingers curled around it, the bus hit another bump – a bigger one. She yelped as her shoulder slammed into the wall and felt that wall begin to tilt backwards.

The old lady in front of her screamed.

 _We’re tipping!_  Hotaru realized, curling into a ball and covering her head as the bus fell over on its side. Above her, the window shattered, glass spraying everywhere. She winced as a piece cut her arm and immediately jerked her head up, checking around.

 _“It’s those things!”_  someone shouted as the bus driver climbed out the front window. She saw many other passengers rushing for the emergency exits including the older woman in front of her.

“Wait!” Hotaru shouted. “Stay down!” She had a pretty good idea what  _those things_  meant. She could already feel their unmistakable fusion of light and dark energy outside.

She fumbled for the communicator in her purse, reaching for the inner pocket. Hotaru’s heart jumped into her throat. The pocket was empty.  _I always put it there_. She unzipped the pocket and dug her hand into every corner, then into the other pockets. By the time she’d tipped the whole purse out onto the ground the bus was rattling and people were screaming as they ran, pushing and shoving, through the aisles.

 _It’s not here!_  she thought, shrieking when something overhead screeched – the whole wall of the bus was suddenly torn free by a blast of dark energy. She fumbled for her phone. The screen had shattered. “Fuck,” Hotaru squeaked.

A sunspot flew by overhead.

 _I have to transform_!

She jumped up, raising her hand to call on Saturn’s power, and froze.

The bus was still full of people, cowering under all the seats or gaping up at the sky.

And lots of them were now looking at her.

 _They’ll find out who I am_. She bit her lip. “Shit,” she muttered. “Shitshitshitshit.”

 _HELP!_ she thought as loudly as she could, hoping she’d remembered right how to do it. It was so much harder to do the psychic trick over distances.

Something roared. She whipped her head around.

Down the highway a car had exploded, dangerously close to a trail of gasoline leaking from a crashed truck.

And the trail of fuel had pooled around a small car, with the door crushed in and someone stuck inside.

She leapt out of the bus through the broken window, rolling through her fall and then sprinting for the car, one eye on the fire the whole way.

She got to the car, trying the door first. Stuck. The window was broken. The girl inside looked just 18.

“Come on!” Hotaru shouted, leaning through the broken window and getting the girl’s seatbelt. “Get out!”

“No,” the girl whispered. And at first Hotaru thought there was an injury she didn’t see, but the girl merely pointed out the window. “Those things!”

“Aren’t the only thing that can hurt you. Get out!” Hotaru shouted, grabbing the girl’s arm. She tried to drag her through the window.  _Why do people have to be so heavy?_  Saturn could have dragged her out much more easily.

She was halfway out when Hotaru heard the roar of the gasoline igniting.  _That_  prompted the girl to move; she scrambled out of the window, and ran three steps before she fell on a clearly twisted ankle. Hotaru dove to cover her. The fire’s heat increased to unbearable levels as it rose up behind them.

Hotaru braced for the explosion.

“ _Deep Submerge!”_

The salt water sprayed her as it rushed overhead, crashing into the gasoline fire and extinguishing it. The giant sphere of seawater raced onwards, merging with a  _World Shaking_ and a  _Dead Scream_ that tore one of the sunspots to bits.

Polished white boots with an aqua stripe along the top landed in front of Hotaru and she heard three more pairs clack onto the nearby cars.

“Five more,” Neptune observed.

“That one’s using fire attacks,” Pluto said, pointing out one shadow with the Garnet Rod.

“Worry about it later,” Uranus commanded. “Sailor Moon – fly up and get ready.”

“Right!” Hotaru saw Sailor Moon’s wings carrying her up.

“Sit tight,” Uranus told Hotaru, raising the Space Sword and nodding to Neptune and Pluto. They leapt away from Hotaru, Uranus sword already high over her head.

“ _Space Sword Blaster!”_ A cyclone tore up the side of the highway, rattling the crashed cars and picking up debris. It caught two of the sunspots, spitting them out the other side of the cyclone.

“ _Chronos Typhoon!”_ Pluto’s own cyclone of sand pulling in two more of the sunspots and Neptune caught the last one with  _Submarine Reflection_ , trapping all five between the outer senshi.

“Woah,” Hotaru gaped. They’d gotten better at fighting them since last Sunday.  _Did everyone train without me_?

The five Sunspots were clustered together now, blocked on three sides by her parents glowing talismans. And Sailor Moon was hovering above, preparing to strike at them.

Hotaru gasped as the five sunspots suddenly joined together and spun rapidly, spitting out a slew of black thorns followed by a blast of fire. Sailor Moon dodged out of the way. Neptune blocked both with a  _Submarine Reflection_. Pluto stumbled back but dug the garnet rod into the road and held her ground.

Uranus took the twin blasts of thorns and fire at close range. The space sword was wrenched from her grip. The sunspots rushed for the opening.

“ _Pluto Spatial Arrest_.” Pluto shouted. Hotaru gaped as the new attack rushed from Mama’s hand – a garnet cyclone of fog trapped the whole, giant, multi-sunspot even as it flexed and broke apart in a bid to escape.

 _Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss_ lit up the sky a moment later, turning all five of the monstrous creatures into shards of crystal that plinked harmlessly against the asphalt.

Hotaru sprinted into the road, uncaring of the people all around them. She jumped straight into Uranus arms.

“Papa,” she cried.

Uranus collar was torn and her hair, singed. “Heya, Sweet Pea,” she grinned. “Heard you needed some help?”

“I couldn’t do  _anything_ ,” she frowned. “Everyone was watching.”

“And you were very wise not to transform in front of them,” Neptune said, and Hotaru turned so she could hug her too. And Pluto.  _I need more arms_. She thought, sniffling and then scrubbing her face on her sleeve. She was not going to cry like Usagi just because she’d missed them only a week.  _Mama goes a lot longer without seeing anyone._

“I lost my communicator,” she said in a rush. “I’m sorry!”

“You’ll find it,” Pluto promised. She nodded to Sailor Moon. “We’ll need to meet the others at Lunar Command at 13:00.”

“Okay,” Sailor Moon nodded, surveying the damage to the highway. “There’s still a lot of people injured here… I’ll help them,” she smiled at them. “You can take Hotaru home.”

“A good idea,” Pluto said, smirking at Hotaru as she summoned the Time Doors. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“I wanted to see you,” she pouted, crossing her arms. “What was that new attack you used?”

“Ah…” Pluto frowned, rubbing her temple as though she had a headache. “I… don’t know.”

“Don’t think too hard about it,” Neptune cautioned. “You’ll figure it out in time.”

“I don’t care where it came from, that was damn useful,” Uranus grinned, clapping Pluto on the shoulder as the doors shut, transporting them through space. “I guess even time guardians aren’t too old to learn new tricks.”

“I don’t think it was new…” Pluto shook her head. “It doesn’t matter – what does is breakfast.” She looked at Hotaru sternly. “Since _someone_ didn’t eat anything this morning.”

“I was faking sick!” Hotaru protested. And she let go of Papa, standing on her own two feet. She crossed her arms. “It was strategy.”

She thought she sounded impressive right up until her stomach growled. And all three of her mothers laughed.

“Hey, I think it was a great strategy,” Uranus said as they stepped through the Time Doors into the penthouse kitchen. She de-transformed. “I mean it works out well – we haven’t eaten yet either.”

“Really?” Hotaru frowned. “But it’s past 11. You all get up super early.”

“Ah…” Papa hesitated. “We were busy.”

“Doing whaaat?” Hotaru asked, tapping her foot and tilting her head to the side.

Papa turned red and started stammering. Mama-Suna bit her lip. And Mama-Michiru started giggling.

Papa looked between the too of them. “Help,” she pleaded.

“Oh no,” Mama-Michiru said, laughing as she shook her head and dragged Mama-Suna over to the teakettle. “You set yourself up for this one.”

As Papa stammered out some lame excuse about watching Netflix all morning, Hotaru noticed something strange.

Mama-Michiru was holding Mama-Suna’s hand.

Hotaru blinked. And looked at Papa’s still red face and Mama-Suna’s smirk.  _Oh!_  “Eeeeee!” she shrieked. “Finally!”

Papa’s mouth dropped open. So did Mama-Suna’s as her whole face turned red.

Mama-Michiru laughed even louder.

“My thoughts exactly, Hotaru,” she said.

 _I need to tell Chibiusa,_ Hotaru thought, hopping up onto the counter and fishing her phone out of her pocket. “Aww,” she pouted, having forgotten the ruined screen.

“Don’t worry about it,” Michiru-Mama said still laughing. She already had Hotaru’s favorite hot chocolate heating up on the stove. “We’ll buy you a new one.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

“Six sunspots attacked the western end of the harbour at 10:17 this morning,” Luna said from her seat on Ami’s shoulder as she addressed the seven of senshi standing in an arc around Lunar Command’s computer. “Those came from the sea. Another six attacked the botanical gardens from the sky at 10:27,”

“And got a pounding,” Makoto added, though from the green and red bruising around her eye, Hotaru decided, it hadn’t been so cut-and-dry.

“Combined attacks were able to kill, 20% of the sunspots,” Artemis said, “And it seems Chibiusa and Sailor Moon proved capable of using their own attacks to destroy them independently.”

“But they can block them,” Usagi added, wrapping her arms tighter around herself. “Therapy Kiss can’t get through if they shoot an attack back – especially that new one with the…”

“The roses,” Luna nodded, tapping a button on the screen. “I have my theories about those, I don’t like any of them.”

“We saw one attacking with fire today,” Setsuna added.

“And one had lightning,” Mercury added. “Do you think it’s related to the ones we know are hiding in the Earth?”

“Or in the other planets,” Luna nodded. “Perhaps they aren’t simply using the planets to grow in numbers and power, they also seem to be taking on attributes of the planet powers.”

“Will that affect ours?” Michiru asked sharply.

Luna shook her head. “I don’t know,” she scowled. “Unfortunately the most we can do is,”

“Wait and see,” Haruka finished. “Which means they have the advantage.”

“As I said,” Luna continued. “I don’t like any of my theories.”

“What  _I_ am concerned about is the timing,” Setsuna said, the whole room turning towards were she sat across from the computer. “These attacks were spaced exactly 10 minutes apart. That’s very precise.”

“And why would they send only 12?” Haruka wondered. “There were a whole lot more when we battled them in space.”

“I believe  _that_  I can answer,” Ami said, tapping a few buttons on the computer, displaying a map of Tokyo. “So far, we’ve seen the two groups of six this morning, and the one group with fifteen on Saturday,”

“ _SATURDAY_?” Hotaru exclaimed. “I missed a battle!”

“Don’t worry,” Chibiusa said. “We handled it.”

“But does that mean my communicator’s been missing for two days?” Hotaru wondered, hands in her hair. “I thought I just dropped it this morning when I rushed out!”

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Artemis consoled her.

“Usagi has lost hers nearly five times now,” Luna smirked. “I’m sure you can’t have lost it nearly as thoroughly as she can.”

“ _I only lose it when you make me clean my room_!” Usagi shot back.

“Back to the attacks,” Ami said. “The reason for the small numbers…and the locations…” She hit a few more keys on the console and three red dots appeared on the Tokyo map. They were nearly equal distances apart.

“They’re all in different parts of Tokyo,” Michiru realized. “All around…”

“Juuban,” Haruka concluded. “They’re surrounding us.”

“Then they know this is where we are,” Setsuna cursed. “The damn news.”

“I believe these are acting like Reconnaissance teams,” Ami said, her mouth a thin line as she gestured to the map. “They may be trying to test how well we fight them without wasting their soldiers. Saturday they saw us fight as a large group. Today they tried to divide us…possibly to see how quickly we could move from one side of Juuban to the other.”

“They want to see how quickly we react,” Setsuna scowled. “Or how close they need to get to Juuban before we intercept them.”

“I’m working on adapting the detection program to pick up their magical signatures farther afield,” Ami told them.

“How many times do you think they’ll try to hit us before they send the larger offensive?” Haruka asked.

“I don’t know…” Ami looked at Setsuna and Michiru, but both of them shook their heads.

“I didn’t even see this morning’s attacks,” Setsuna said, glaring towards her shoes.

“And I only detected the ones in the sea,” Michiru said. “And then only because I was looking for them.”

“So they’re testing us,” Makoto said, clenching and unclenching her fist. “And they have the advantage.” She shook her head. “I don’t like this.”

“We need to be preparing for their larger attack,” Artemis looked towards Usagi. “How are Mina and Rei?”

“Good. Rei’s improving a lot. She should be able to transform soon.”

“I hope so,” Haruka said. “I think we’re going to need them.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_She opened her eyes to darkness, of a kind much deeper than a cloudy night or the bottom of a cave. This darkness was total and totally lightless._ _  
_She had only seen it once before, when their newest enemy had sapped her powers to little more than a cinder.__

But I still have my power. Hell if I’m going to let it steal it a second time.

_"Fight me!" she cried, feeling the still re-kindling fire in her rage. "Show yourself!”_

_It was pitch black around her, and scentless. All she could feel was an unnerving, prickling, numbness._

_But in the nothingness, she did hear a response._

_"Sol..." a voice whimpered from the darkness._

_And then another and another echoed it. And another._

_“Sol…”_

_“Sol…”_

_“Sol…”_

_She spun around trying to see them._

_"What is that?" she shouted into the darkness. “Who are you?”_

_"Sol…"_

_"Sol…"_

_"Sol…"_

_They sounded faint, panicked, and tired._

_"What is," but she stopped speaking when the voices suddenly hushed._

_Then, all around her, millions of lights of varying intensities flared along with a new voice – a strong voice – a terrible, hissing voice._

_"SOL!"_

_She put her fist out in front of her, eyes widening as fire consumed her hand._

_"SOL!" the voice hissed once more, all the pin pricks of light around her lighting up in time with it._

_"Will Destroy!" it said. She watched several of the lights swarmed together, melding into an image._ _  
_ Tokyo...

_She watched as it focused in on Juuban, she could see the roof of the Hikawa shrine._

_"Will find! Will destroy!"_

_"Not if I can help it!” she cried, throwing the fire from her hand. It rushed into the darkness, hitting the image of Tokyo and disintegrating it, sending the lights that comprised it scattering._

_"SOL!" it hissed louder this time. She covered her ears as all the lights rushed towards each other, closing together, entrapping her._

_"Run..." one of the small voices she's heard before squeaked close by. "Run now."_

_She stumbled back. The lights rushed in closer._

_"G... go away." She glared, raising her hand again though the lights continued advancing. They blinded her: a rainbow of lights that walled her in on all sides._

_Within the prison of light, she gasped, was the shadow of a snake. It circled round and round as its coils grew wider and wider. She raised both her fists and turned as she tracked its movements through the prison of light around her._

_When it was twice her size, it turned its head. Its eyes appeared as they began to glow red._

_Her symbol blazed to life on its forehead._

Rei awoke with a gasp, kicking away the covers and rushing, barefoot onto the balcony.

Far below, dawn had turned Venus’ Boiling Sea purple and the beach a peach color.

And it made Mina's hair and wings appear to glow in the vibrant orange of her powers.

Rei sighed as she leaned over the balcony railing, watching Mina. She was running with a foal: one of the young horses who'd crashed out of the sea yesterday. It stumbled on its knobby legs, appearing lavender under the morning light, as Mina chased it across the sand.

 _I wish we could stay_ , Rei thought.  _You're finally acting like yourself again._

She clenched her fists as she leaned over the railing. She'd dreamed of the sunspots all week long. And the snake. Always, her dreams had been memories.

This… had not been a memory.

 _I felt_ , Rei shivered,  _connected to it._

She could not help thinking of the shards of crystal that formed the core of each sunspot. Had they been senshi once? How many times had they been divided to create the number of sunspots she’d seen when she was taken?

 _If I’m connected to it,_ Rei considered, swallowing a lump in her throat.  _I might become one of them too… or many of them._

 _But maybe this something I can use,_  she thought.  _I can learn more about its plans. We could have the upper hand._

It would mean leaning into the connection from her nightmare though, when all she wanted to do was push it away.

Mina shrieked and Rei focused back on her. The clumsy foal had knocked her over. It leaned over her where she’d fallen in the sand, nuzzling her face with its nose.

Mina was grinning from ear to ear.

 _I’ll do it for you,_ she decided, taking a deep, centering breath.  _I’ll do it for you and Usagi, and for everyone._

Rei devoted one more minute to staring at Mina before she turned away from the balcony, seeking out the fireplace in the parlor of Mina's rooms. Despite the warm, humid weather on Venus, Mina'd kept it lit all week. It had been comforting. But now it might also be useful.

Rei settled in front of it, staring deep into the flames: yellow and orange laced through with green.  
It didn’t matter that she still couldn’t transform. She'd never needed her powers to see visions in the fire.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

"Honey, are you sure you're alright?" Saeko worried Monday evening as Ami fumbled with the keys to her apartment. They'd both moved several things around to have Dinner together today, and (as always) Saeko had walked Ami to her door – if only to have as much time with her as possible. It was more difficult than she’d anticipated not having Ami at home. Too often dreams of Ami’s disappearance against the last of the senshi’s enemies two years prior had sent Saeko rushing to her daughter’s room – her old room. Now it was little more than storage for extra computer parts and boxes.

And clearly Ami would be better for having someone look after her. Her hands were jittery and this was the third key she’d tried on her apartment door without realizing it was the wrong one.   
"I'm," Ami yawned, "fine. I promise. It was a rough week at school." She grinned as she finally got the correct key and pushed open her door.  
"Only school?"  
"Well I was late to one class – but the professor has been very understanding since everything broke on the news, which has been the only helpful thing to come out of that.”  
"Still: how much have you actually slept this week, Ami?" her mother persisted.

Ami sighed. Her mother’d been commenting on her fatigue all through dinner and had had several well formed opinions on the two cups of coffee Ami'd ordered as well as the thermos in her bag.  
"I have gotten an adequate amount," Ami insisted.  
"That is what I'd say to you when I was in my residency working 32 hour shifts," her mother retorted. "At the time I considered a 20 minute nap adequate."  
“I don’t want you to worry, Mom.” Ami said. "Things are hectic now. But I can handle it – I swear"  
"I’m not sure you can," Saeko said frankly. "And you shouldn’t have to – Darling, no one is going to blame you for moving back home for a bit. School can wait. I keep saying if you need to scale back, there's no shame."  
"I appreciate it mom, but I’m fine," Ami said a bit more sharply than she’d intended. She instantly felt guilty for the shocked look on her mother’s face. She turned in the open doorway and hugged Saeko tightly. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll come home if I need to, but I want to give this a try. Just for a little longer.”   
Saeko sighed. “Alright.”  
As soon as her mother was gone, Ami closed and locked her door and then leaned back against it, sighing and putting her head in her hands.

 _Everyone else can handle it_ , Ami thought.  _Makoto's running a business – all I’m doing is more studying. If I can't handle that, then what's that say about me?_

She looked at the schedule she kept taped to her mirror and groaned.  _And I still have studying to do._ She shuffled across the studio apartment to her desk and sunk down heavily into the chair. She reached out for the full kettle and set to re-heating the water, then reached into the largest drawer in her desk for the half-empty jar of instant coffee.  _I can do this_ , she thought.  _If I can fight two battles in a weekend, I can study for an anatomy exam._ She tapped the keys to wake up her PC, and pulled open the textbook in front of her.

She had gone over two pages of review before it dawned on her. “This is organic chemistry,” she muttered. That was the test she’d had at 8:00 am today.  _I probably bombed that,_ she thought as she swiveled around, searching for the anatomy textbook and then reaching to pick it up off the floor.

Ami stared at the words so long they'd begun to jumble together when she sighed and set the study materials aside. She stretched. And yawned. Her hands were shaking.  _Perhaps the fourth cup was a bad idea._

It was 23:00 now.  _I could sleep,_ Ami thought, though she itched to work on something else. The expansion of the detection program for the sunspots still needed to get done and she hadn’t tried to test her anti-malware program for the Mercury hard-drive, or crack into the helmet in days.

 _Am I being terribly irresponsible if I just leave them for tomorrow?_ She thought.

As she was debating it, she heard a knock on her door.

“Ami?” Daichi’s voice called from the other side.

 _What’s he doing here at this hour?_ She thought.

“Working hard?” he grinned when she opened the door. He was leaning in the doorway – his dark hair falling across his eyes. “Sorry, I know it’s late. But I saw your light on from the street.”

“No, it’s not late at all – how are you?”

“ _Me_?” he laughed. “I’m not the amazing senshi who fought two battles in two days. I’m a slacker by comparison.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just came by because you left this at the café on Saturday…and you never came to pick it up after I texted so when I saw your light on…well I thought i’d just bring it over."   
“Oh!” she said, realizing the white bag slung over his shoulder was hers. “Oh how stupid of me – I meant to come by and pick it up.” She felt herself blushing as she reached out to take it.  _I totally forgot – and that had the Malware program in it too!_ “Thank you.”

“That’s okay – just gave me an excuse to see you today.” Daichi looked over her shoulder. “Whatcha working on?”  
“Uh,” she glanced back at her desk with the chosed textbooks and the computer she’d just sent to sleep. “Just studying really.”

“Computer science?” he asked.

“No – Anatomy,”

“Ah,” he shook his head. “Well I’ll be no help with that. Not that you need it.” He leaned in quickly and surprised her when he pecked her on the lips. “You are a genius after all – I bet you can handle anything.”

“I – I only work as hard as you do,” she said. “You’re the one in the accelerated program.”

“And I don’t handle half as much work as you,” he said. “But I really like that about you, you know. How hard you work. It inspires the rest of us slackers.”

She grinned, still blushing, as she tucked back her hair. “All I do is try.”

“Well you’re extraordinary, just saying.” He sighed. “Alright…I’d love to stay but I have a test to cram for. And I’m sure you’re work’s never done.” He blew her another kiss as he turned away from her door. “Night, Ami.”

She closed it only once he was out of the hallway and smiled widely, holding one hand over her lips.

 _I can tinker with the detection software for a bit._ She said.  _And then I’ll sleep._

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_**COULD THIS BE SAILOR SATURN** _

_The picture above was taken by a daring member of our news team in the aftermath of one of Monday morning’s attacks. You can clearly see the dark haired girl hugging Sailor Uranus (Tenoh Haruka) – who is not known for having an approachable personality._

_Many have speculated that this means Tenoh and the girl have a personal connection, though Tenoh has no children or known family members. Based on this, and the girl’s hair color, many are speculating that this girl could actually be Sailor Saturn, one of the three senshi whose identities are not yet known._

_Unfortunately, analysts have yet to be able to place the girl’s identity. “Looking for a dark haired child in Tokyo when it’s hard enough for anyone to point out the one with pink hair – not gonna have any luck unless you get me a clear shot of her face,” Det. Ichiro of the Tokyo Police told us. “But, we might want to start looking outside the elementary schools – this girl looks like she’s approaching Middle School age._

_Indeed, following that tip, police looking into the missing records at Juuban Elementary found a number of records had disappeared from the Middle School as well – could it be the youngest Senshi have been there under our noses the entire time._

_“Hard to say – I’m more surprised no one has been able to point out Chibi Moon yet,” Ichiro said. “But Saturn, that kid could probably be hidden in plane sight, we’d never know for sure.”_

Mr. Tomoe stood in the doorway Tuesday as Hotaru rushed in after school, dragging Kara Aino behind her. “Good afternoon Kara,” he said. “I’m sorry, you’re going to have to head home today – Hotaru is grounded.”

“ _What!_ ” Hotaru scowled. “ _Why?”_

Kara sighed, shoulders slumping. “Oh-kay.”

“No. Stay.” Hotaru ordered, shutting the door and glaring at her Father. “Why am I grounded.”

“Because I was led to believe, yesterday, that you were down with the flu. And here I find out from the paper that not only did you lie to me, you snuck out, got caught in the middle of a dangerous battle,  _and_ ,” he pulled a newspaper out from behind him, and she froze when she read the title. Then she squinted at the picture.

“They can’t tell who I am from  _that_ ,” she said.

“You were still nearly discovered,” her father lectured. “Miss. Meioh and I,”

“You mean my mother,” Hotaru said.

“That’s beside the po –”

“She always calls you ‘my father’ when she talks about you,” Hotaru said. “And Mama-Michiru and even ‘Papa-Haruka.’ Why can’t you call them my moms?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Souichi Tomoe sputtered. “You still broke my trust – you put yourself in danger and you were seen.”

“I wanted to see them.” She shrugged. “I didn’t see them all week. I asked on Friday, and you said ‘no,’ so I went myself.”

“The battle,”

“I was only in as much danger as everybody else!” Hotaru shouted. “That attack could have happened at Mugen too! You can’t blame me for getting stuck in that. It was out of my control. And I didn’t ‘let myself get seen.’ Otherwise, I’d have transformed in front of everyone.” She let that hang in the air for a moment as she crossed her arms and raised her head higher. “But I didn’t transform – I was actually in more danger cause I was  _trying_ to keep my identity a secret.”

“And then you ran out into the road and publicly showed that you  _know_  them.”

“ _I MISSED THEM_!” she shouted back, still glaring. “It’s not like I posed for a picture.”

Souichi sighed and shook his head. “You are still grounded for lying.”

“Fine,” Hotaru fumed. “But Kara’s still staying.”

“I-I am?” her friend stammered.

“Yes,” Hotaru said, grabbing her hand and dragging her past her father. “She’s here on important Sailor business – come on,” she continued talking as she dragged Kara into the apartment.

“Hotaru!” Souichi shouted.

“It’s important!” Hotaru shouted back. He heard her slam her bedroom door.

He followed them, hovering outside the door debating how much success he was going to have enforcing his own rules when he heard their conversation.

“It has to be here,” Hotaru was fretting. He heard her wrench open one of the dresser drawers. “It looks like a watch – can you go look under the bed.”

“Yes!” Kara answered back. “Is it really bad if you can’t find it?”  
“Uh-huh,” Hotaru answered. “It’s the only way I can reach most of them – I could be late to fights…or I could miss them. And if I get stuck again that’s like the only way I could contact them.”

“Can’t you just think it?”

“Sometimes – I’m still  _really_  bad at that.” Hotaru answered. “ _Where did I put it_?”

Souichi sighed and glanced down, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the purple communicator he’d taken from Hotaru last week.

 _I suppose I can hardly ground you for lying…I’m doing the same._  He sighed, walking out to the living room where an emergency newscast had been rolling all day long.  _It’s only to keep you safe_ , he thought. As the footage of the fires still burning in the northern city of Sapporo came back from the news chopper. Numbers of casualties had been climbing all day.  _From things like this…_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

It had been a normal Tuesday morning. Pluto’d left to do her shift guarding Venus and the Time Dimension just after 4:13. Makoto’d opened her bakery as normal at 5:00 sharp and Nephrite and Usagi had shuffled in right after each other at 6:01. Ami’d popped by the 24-hour university library at 6:25, and had been in her first class with her third cup of coffee by 8:29. Michiru’d snuck in the back door of her favorite pool at 8:40 and Haruka’d picked up the morning paper at 8:52. She’d taken one look at the headline, and the picture of herself holding Hotaru that was plastered across the front page, and opted  _not_  to attempt being out in public today. She’d already gotten two suits filed against her for punching reporters. And while, contrary to Michiru’s nagging, they really  _could_  afford several more of those, punching reporters really wasn’t how she wanted to start her day.

So she stayed in. She cleaned the entire apartment, except the art studio. She may not have understood what system of organization Michiru had over that chaotic mess, but she knew the consequences of assuming there  _wasn’t_  a system well enough. She did the laundry that had needed to get done for three days and used that as an excuse to move another batch of Setsuna’s clothes to their room (which seemed to be the only material possessions she had an abundance of, all thanks to Michiru.)

 _I will never understand how the two of you can shop so much,_ Haruka decided as she collapsed onto the couch at 11:15, once all the work was done.

It was at that time that she decided to turn on the news. If they weren’t spending every other news segment speculating about Saturn’s identity, then it might be safe to go out and head to the racetrack for some practice.

 _Please don’t be about us_ , she thought as she switched on the TV.

And it wasn’t about them, at all. It took her a moment to piece together what she was seeing – the northern city of Sapporo in flames.

 _What the hell exploded to cause a fire that big?_ she thought.

Then she saw the shadow pass in front of the camera, a spot of magenta glowing in the center of it.

_Shit!_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The sunspot detection software hadn’t been able to pick them up so far from Tokyo, and no one in Sapporo had begun connecting them to the attacks in Tokyo until the afternoon, so none of the news had registered in Lunar Command’s alert systems.

Jupiter, Sailor Moon, and Nephrite had teleported to Sapporo at 11:16 and Uranus, Neptune, Mercury, and Pluto just after them at 11:18. By then half the city was in flames, courtesy of the three sunspots who’d been hovering overhead.

It had taken fifteen minutes to corral them and a single  _Therapy Kiss_  to finish them off. But the damage was already done.

 _“I could heal the city with the Silver Crystal,”_ Usagi’d insisted.

But Pluto’d shaken her head.

 _“A rejuvenation of that scale would result in the type of crystal formations that surround Crystal Tokyo._ ” She’d cautioned. “And timeline wise, and media wise, we aren’t ready for that yet.”

“Besides,” Ami’d sighed. “All those who could be rescued have been treated,”

And the rest, she didn’t have to say, were those it was too late for even the Silver Crystal to help – at least not without risking Usagi’s life too.

“And you’re too important to the far future to risk like that,” Pluto’d reminded her.

Still, by the time they returned to Tokyo at 14:03, there were at least 100 people dead.

And the weight of those lives rested on all of their shoulders.

The minute they returned home, Ami set aside the essay she needed to complete for the morning, and sequestered herself away in Lunar Command with Luna and Artemis. Between the three of them, they worked out the kinks in the program and hacked into enough satellites to ensure the sunspot detection program had global reach. They finished it all by 3:31 on Wednesday morning.

Luna shifted into her human form when Ami collapsed on the couch, making it easier to tuck the blanket around her.

“I should have made you go home hours ago,” Luna sighed, wrapping her arms around herself. “We ask far too much of you.”

“We’d have needed at least another week to finish it ourselves,” Artemis piped up, and she smiled as his human arms wrapped around her. She’d forgotten how strong he was.

“I know,” Luna whispered, turning in his arms so she could tuck her head under his chin. “I miss when they were younger,”

“When the only drama you had to worry about was whether their current crush was an enemy?”

“Or when I actually felt useful to them,” Luna said. “Ami knows as much as I did about how Lunar Command works. Truly, she’s improving on it in ways I’ve never thought to.”

“I’m never sure if it’s the Mercurian in her shining through. She was exceptionally brilliant in her first life too.”

Luna sighed. “I feel as though I  _know_ that. But I don’t have any memories to prove it.” She closed her eyes, snuggling into Artemis. “Do you find that what you remember actually just feels like things you read – as though all the true memories are lost.”

“There are somethings,” Artemis said. “I can remember the end.”

“That’s the only thing I remember too,” Luna sighed. “Some things Usagi’s been telling me… I don’t even know how I can claim to be an advisor anymore, she remembers more about the Moon than  _me_.”

“But you remember more about running it,” Artemis said.

“And neither of us has been any help to them in this current crisis either,” Luna carried on worrying. She turned her head to look at Ami again, the bags under her eyes pronounced even in her sleep. “What kind of advisors are we?”

Artemis sighed.

“When I first met Minako,” he said, “I felt… so frustrated.” He chuckled. “Here was this… barely 12 year old girl, whom I hadn’t interacted with much in her first life, and who cared about her hair and her shoes and had never held a sword and who had never even taken a self defense class…” he sighed. “I tailed her around London for… two months. I was so baffled by how I was meant to approach her. This was a budding diva who couldn’t seem to take anything seriously.” He was quiet for a few moments. “But when it finally became necessary to tell her what she was… oh she complained, make no mistake… but I could see this hunger in her, that I hadn’t noticed before I knew her, for something meaningful. And from the very beginning, the dedication she gave to her duty, I honestly never had to give her one lecture about it’s importance. I more often had to remind her she couldn’t stay out all night assisting Kat with the everyday crimefighting.” He chuckled. “So yes I helped her strategize, I helped give her perspective when she was confused…but she reminded me from the very beginning that I wasn’t anything close to a war-time advisor. She had all the instincts there.” He pulled away enough that he could look at Luna, taking note of all the features on her human face which he hadn’t seen enough of in this life to fully know yet. “Even if you don’t know any more or less than them – you help them by being there.”

Luna smiled up at him, standing up on her toes to kiss him. “Thank you, dear.”

“Any time,” he looked over at Ami too. “I can carry her home.”

Luna shook her head. “She’ll just jump right back into studying and coffee,” she wrinkled her nose. “I have to try harder to get her to drop that habit.” She stepped out of Artemis arms and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the Command center’s doors. “Let’s just let her sleep.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Ami, unfortunately, did not get as much sleep as Luna had hoped. The alert on Lunar Command began blaring just after 5:00 am, along with an alert on each of the scouts communicators.

This time there were two attacks, concurrently: one with six Sunspots in Fukoaka and another six, once more, in Sapporo.

Mercury, Jupiter, Nephrite, and Moon dispatched the six in Fukoaka, Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune accompanied Chibi Moon to Sapporo. They managed to dispatch the six sunspots in an hour, enough time to assist Sailor Moon’s team when their number doubled in the middle of the battle, six more sunspots rising out of the Earth, armed with whirlwinds of burning thorns and black rose petals.

The seven senshi teleported back to the outers Penthouse together, and no sooner had they done so then Neptune lost her hold on her transformation, sighing and collapsing onto the couch.

They were all so tired though, that not even Haruka and Setsuna immediately noticed, Haruka herself to focused on food. She’d already missed to meals today thanks to the attacks. She went straight for the kitchen as the others settled on the couches, filled the tea kettle, and then went straight to the refridgerator.

They heard her sigh and close the refridgerator door a bit roughly, returning a moment later with an apple and a first aid kit, which she handed off to Makoto.

"Where'd the leftovers go?" she sulked, sinking down between Michiru and Setsuna on the couch.  
"From Monday?” Michiru asked as she leaned into Haruka’s shoulder. “I pitched them, they'd gone bad"  
"But they were only two days old!"  
"And they reeked," Michiru said. She had her arms crossed and was drumming her left hand against one. “These things are  _teasing_  us.”

“They’ve also attacked Sapporo twice now – likely using the same spot to see how quickly we travel between it and the other attack sight,” Ami said. She was sitting on the other couch with Usagi and Chibiusa, rubbing her eyes as though that would help with her fatigue. She smiled when Usagi put her hand on her shoulder.

“Jokes on them though,” Makoto said, leaning on the back of that couch she as bandaged Nephrite’s freshly wounded arm. “We’re getting better at fighting them.”

“In small numbers,” Haruka reminded them all, still tossing the whole apple between her hands. “Their big offensive’s coming. And,” she scowled. “They’re hitting the population centers on purpose – they have to be. Did you see last night’s headline: ‘Sailor Scouts slacking off!’ she groaned. “First they think we’re causing this, now we’re not doing enough to stop it.”

“The detection program’s running without errors now though,” Ami said, “We’ll see all the new attacks coming.”

“And what happens when they’re larger than today,” Setsuna worried. “I won’t be able to cross my own timeline, and Sailor Moon is still the only one of us who can power a teleport on her own…except…”

Usagi sighed, looking at all of them. “We need Mina and Rei back.”

“She’ll be back soon,” Michiru said, lifting up the Aqua Mirror.

“Maybe even tomorrow?” Makoto asked, brightening instantly.

“Oh yeah!” Chibiusa gasped, “her birthday!”

It had crept up on all of them besides Makoto. She’d been planning Rei’s nineteenth birthday party with her Grandfather for months. She had already set aside ingredients for the cake in the shrine’s kitchen. And she had a present for Rei stashed under her bed. She’d even helped Rei’s Grandfather decorate the house yesterday just in case she came home.

“Hard to say,” Michiru said. “And in any case, based on this week we’ll almost certainly see another attack tomorrow.”

“There’ll still be time to celebrate though, right?” Chibiusa asked, sitting on the arm of the couch beside Usagi.

“I think we deserve a party,” Usagi nodded. “She’ll be home in time.”

“I hope so,” Ami said.

Just then, they heard a pair of boots clack on the balcony and then a flash of purple before Hotaru crashed through the slider door, took one look at all of them and sighed, shoulders slumping forwards.

“I missed… another one.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Thursday, April 17th, Shingo and Chibiusa walked through the gates of Juuban Middle School to the sight of two police officers greeting the principal at the front door.

“Hide!” Shingo hissed, stepping in front of Chibiusa and holding his school bag in front of her.

“Relax,” she said, pushing the bag aside and walking around so she was beside him once again. “They won’t recognize me.”

“But… your hair.”

“Uncle Shingo,” she said, smirking when he did a double take at the title. “I’ve been at school here since April started and no-one’s noticed yet. Even when Chibi Moon got on the front page.”

“Er… oh yeah.”

“That’s what’s nice about magic,” Chibiusa grinned. “Until they know my name, I can be just as anonymous as anyone else.”

“How’s it work?”

“I dunno,” she shrugged. “Luna or Artemis could probably tell yah. Trust me they won’t notice – here watch,” and then as he gaped at her, she ran right up to the two policemen. Greeting them with the politest “Good Morning,” he’d ever seen.

“You’re gonna learn to be this cheeky from  _Usagi_?” he asked when she skipped back over to him.

“No,” she said, falling into step with him. “I’m gonna learn it from you,” she looked up at him. “That weird for you?”

“No,” he scoffed. “Just…don’t call me Uncle again – we’re friends.”

“I know,” she said, “I just did it so you’d make that face.” And she laughed and jumped away when he tried jab her with his elbow.

“They’re here looking for you though, right?” Shingo asked.

“Uhuh,” Chibiusa said, frowning as they passed the police officers and the principal on their way in. “Now that they think Saturn’s older than they thought, they’re apparently looking at all the Middle schools.”

Shingo saw them again when he was in class, walking between the office and the fifth grade classrooms.

“You know who she is right?” his best friend asked. “Does Chibi Moon really go to our school?”

“No!” Shingo denied immediately, flushing when he realized everyone in his class was looking at him. “I-I mean, she and Saturn… they don’t even live in Juuban. They just visit… for training.”

“Where do they live?”

“I don’t know!” he said, putting on the best scowl he could. “I keep telling you my sister never tells me anything about the Senshi thing.”

“Well scuse’ me for thinking you’re close,” his best friend said, rolling his eyes. “You did get her crescent tattooed on your wrist – which is wicked cool, man. I mean how’d you sneak that by your parents.”

Now this he had an answer to. He winked at the gaggle of cute girls watching him from across the room and braced his fists on his hips. “I just got mad skills, that’s all.” He might not have been allowed to tell Usagi about the crescent mark yet, but that didn’t meet it hadn’t bumped his status up from cool to uber cool with his classmates.

“You have met Chibi Moon though right?” another boy in his class asked. “Is she really our age?”

“Kinda,” Shingo shrugged. “She’s a mystery.”

“What’s she like? Is she cool?” a few other people clamored to know.

“She’s nice,” Shingo answered. And chuckled as he imagined her sucking up to the police officers when they visited her class. “She’s… cheeky.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Hotaru was walking between classes with Kara when she saw the television on in the teacher’s lounge – a sunspot clearly visible on the screen. She rushed to the door, barging into the room.

“ _MISS. TOMOE_!” her science teacher sputtered. “ _This is a restricted area,”_

But she wasn’t listening to him, instead her eyes were on the screen, staring at the building she recognized behind the Sunspots.

_Juuban Middle School…_

“Chibiusa,” she whispered.

“Get to class – that’s the safest place for you to be.”

“N-no,” she said as the teachers ushered her out of the room. “My friend goes to Juuban,”

“All the students there are on lock down,” the teacher sighed. “Go to class – whatever’s going on will be resolved soon. The Defense forces were dispatched.”

“And the sailor scouts?” Hotaru demanded.

“What ever good they’re gonna do,” one of the eighth grade teachers said. “These creatures are at Juuban  _looking_  for the Senshi Miss. Tomoe. I am sure they’re already there.”

“But I still need to –”

“Go to class,” all the teachers chorused. And her science teacher even ushered her out of the room and escorted she and Kara all the way to mathematics.

“Sit down, Miss Tomoe,” her math teacher said when she refused to, staring out the classroom windows towards Juuban. “Or it’s detention.”

“Sit down,” Kara whispered from the seat behind her. Then she raised her hand. “Ms. Mori, can I go to the bathroom?”

“Fine, fine –  _quickly_ ,” their teacher sighed. “Everyone else get your homework out…”

“Don’t worry,” Kara whispered. “I got this,” and she rushed out of class.

Only a minute later, Hotaru jumped up from her desk grinning as the fire alarm was tripped. She hung back as her class rushed to the door and her teacher shrieked at them to get into a orderly line and  _walk_. She went to the open window and climbed right out, transforming into Saturn in time to land firmly on her feet.

And then she was running, through the streets and across the roofs towards the dark energy she could see all around Juuban Middle School.

 _I’m coming, Chibiusa_ , she thought.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

_She was there again, in the light prison, watching the shadow of the snake grow bigger as it circled round and round._

_“Run…” one of the faint voices whispered. But she ignored it, turning to keep the Snake’s face within her sight._

_She braced herself when it turned to stare at her, and when her Martian symbol appeared on its forehead._

_This was the third time in as many days she’d had this vision. It was the third time she’d seen the snake’s head rush towards her, mouth opening wide, as her symbol glowed on its forehead._

_This was the first day she didn’t flinch, resisting even the urge to shiver as the freezing cold filled her._

_She could still feel her fire. It was bright, and strong, and warm. She held onto it._

_“Sol…” the snake’s voice was hissing. “Have found…will destroy.”_

_She saw, in its thoughts, the newspaper, and Juuban Middle School mentioned by name._

_“Will find…will destroy.” She could see it now: the building buring without a single senshi in sight._

There’s me,  _she thought and glared at the darkness all around her. “Not if I can help it!” she snapped, grinning when her fire gathered at her fist._

_She wouldn’t be at its mercy now._

_“SOL!”_

_“Run…”_

_“No, she whispered, feeling the fire in her rage from a steady flame into an inferno. “I won’t run. I won’t, ever run.”_

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

The sunspots had shocked the news and the scouts that morning at 10:43. They’d headed, not for the islands of Japan, but for Mexico, prompting all of them to teleport, or travel via the time doors, halfway across the globe to deal with twenty of the blasted shadows.

And halfway through their battle, with eight of the sunspots still terrorizing them and the city, a communication came in from Luna that made Sailor Moon freeze right in the middle of the fight.

 _We’ve just detected five of them at Juuban Middle School,_ Luna said.

“Chibiusa!” Sailor Moon realized “But there’s still so many here!”

“Go to her,” Neptune shouted, stepping in front of the Sailor Moon alongside Jupiter and parrying the oncoming attacks of thorns and dark energy with a  _Deep Submerge_ and an  _Oak Evolution_. “She won’t be able to transform if there’s too many people around her.”

“We can handle this,” Pluto added, stopping one of the sunspots short with her newest attack.

Sailor Moon looked all of them in the eye one more time and nodded. “Okay,” and in a flash of silver light, she was gone, appearing in Japan just outside the Middle School’s gates.

They’d been blasted apart, the metal warped and melted. She ran through them, noting all the smashed windows and the children cowering in the yard where she used to eat her lunch.

Shingo’s classroom was on the third floor. Chibiusa’s was on the first.

She felt the freezing blast just in time to dodge it as it slammed into the pavement beneath her, cracking the cement and sending dust and small chunks of it into the air. She raised her Moon sceptre, catching the sunspot who’d done it and one of its fellows with a  _Therapy Kiss_  before they could conjure another attack. She rushed across the courtyard, through the front doors, and encountering another as she turned down the hall to Chibiusa’s room.

She’d raised her Moon sceptre again, but couldn’t get the attack off fast enough to stop the whirlwind of rose petals the sunspot bombarded her with.

 _Hang on Chibiusa,_ she thought as she struggled back to her feet, charging through the next attack.  _I’m coming_.

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Shingo tried to jerk his head around as Chibiusa screamed, but the dark energy held him rooted to the spot. It didn’t matter now that he’d seen them coming through the third floor window and rushed down to warn her. It didn’t matter because they’d met him when he arrived. The sunspots had sought out the fifth grade classrooms first.

And He’d been frozen to his spot just inside the doorway, in time to see Chibiusa throw herself in front of all her classmates who’d scrambled behind their teacher’s desk.

Now they were all frozen, and he couldn’t hear Chibiusa scream again.

“I told you,” he heard her whimper.  _Is she talking to them_? “The Sailor Senshi…aren’t he-aaahhh.” Shingo swallowed back the bile in his throat.

“I…won’t…tell…you,” Chibiusa gasped. And then she screamed for a third time.

“Leave her alone!”

He would have cheered if he could speak as he heard Sailor Moon’s voice shout from the doorway behind him.

“I’ll not let you torment someone so young and innocent,” Sailor Moon thundered at them. “You want a Sailor Senshi,” she said, stepping into the middle of the room. “Here I am!” and Shingo felt something fresh and cool was over him as the magic holding him captive evaporated in a flash of silver light. He immediately looked towards Chibiusa, now collapsed in front of the teacher’s desk with Sailor Moon firmly in front of her.

Then Shingo gasped as ten more sunspots suddenly appeared in the air around Sailor Moon, blocking her in on all sides.

~ _AgeofAquarius~_

Sailor Venus ran Moonlight through practice swing after practice swing, her movements becoming more confident with each arc of the blade. She stepped lightly across the jetty, retraining her muscles to use the forms that her brain could remember with perfect clarity.

So lost was she in the flash of the blade through the twilight air, and the warmth of her planet encouraging her to continue, that she did not immediately notice the determined, eery calm coming from the only other human being on her world.

 _Mina,_  Rei called to her just before she turned round to face her.

She stopped short with Moonlight half raised, taking in the pale white boots standing in the sand and the flash of red she could see from the gem that blazed in the middle of a gold tiara.

In the daylight , she was sure the short skirt and collar would be a rich, vibrant, red.

“Mars!” Venus cheered, stowing her sword and rushing to her.

Mars felt joyful, and still strangely calm, and determined.

“We’ve got trouble, Mars whispered as Venus reached out to her. She clasped Venus hand firmly in hers. “We need to go home.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Even as Sailor Moon watched, the sunspots in front of her quadrupled in number as four more rushed through the walls Then four after that, rushing through the floor and the windows.

 _There are too many of them!_ Sailor Moon realized right as twin blasts of dark energy hit her in the back and the chest.

And as she shook from the force of the blasts, trying to keep standing, she head one of them speak

“ _Sol…_  the voice whispered. “Must find Sol.’

“They aren’t here!” Sailor Moon shouted, conjuring up her Moon scepter. Her crescent began to glow. “But I am – leave these children alone!”

And in a flash, Shingo wasn’t looking at Sailor Moon anymore. Rather than a Sailor fuku, she suddenly wore a pale white gown and a crown with red and pink gems adorning it.

Pairing the regal outfit with the commanding glare on her face, Shingo understood all at once how it was his sister could be a Queen

“Leave them alone,” Neo Queen Serenity ordered again, unfurling her feathered wings behind her. The Silver Crystal was shining brightly from the new scepter she held in her hand – and all the sunspots had turned towards it. “You want a Senshi – hear I am!” And she conjured  _Therapy Kiss,_ the force of it taking out two more of the monsters. Two more dodged. Another cancelled out the bright, pink and white attack with a blast of dark power. The explosion knocked over chairs and desks all around the classroom and shattered what remained of the windows. Then a subsequent blast of thorns sent Serenity tumbling back through windows, into the yard.

Serenity used her wings to get her balance and landed on her feet in the yard, hands braced above her head as the sunspots overhead prepared another volley of attacks.

“ _Silence Wall!”_ someone shouted just as the ten sunspots overhead let off ten blasts of dark energy.

The wall of purple and black energy sprang up around her as Saturn landed by her side, dropping to her knees as the barrage of attacks hit her shield, but keeping the glaive held high over her head (despite the shaking in her arms).

“Is Chibiusa okay,” Saturn panted as Serenity raised her scepter, destroying three more sunspots with Therapy Kiss as the other seven dodged.

“She’ll be fine,” Serenity nodded, and both she and Saturn raised their weapons as the next round of attacks rained down on them, tearing into the shield with rose petals and thorns.

Saturn held her ground and grinned.

“I could do this all da – aaaaay!”

Her mocking remark became a scream as something like fire shot out of the ground at her feet, knocking her over as another fifteen sunspots sprang out of the Earth  _inside_  the limits of the Silence Wall, which collapsed as she did.

Saturn pushed herself up onto her elbows as Serenity stood in front of her, her body now the only thing standing between the Sunspots, Saturn, and the school.

“I might have to use the Silver Crystal,” she whispered, twirling the sceptre as, overhead, the sunspots readied their next attacks.

 _But then_ _It_ _will know about it!_ Saturn recalled from their battle with the snake. “Serenity!” Saturn shouted, cursing the fact that she couldn’t seem to pick herself up off the ground. “Get back!”

“I can’t,” Serenity said simply. The Silver Crystal was beginning to glow more brightly. “I need to protect them.” She closed her eyes, ready to use the crystal despite the danger of its exposure.

 _Knock it off, Bun-head!_  A familiar voice seared clearly through her mind.

“Mars!” Serenity breathed as the twenty-two sunspots overhead shrieked, dark blasts from all of them converging together, aiming towards her.

“ _Moonlight Lovely Blast!”_ Venus voice shouted, accompanied by a bright flare of orange light that appeared just as the sunspots’ combined attack was about to hit her. There was a thump, and the  _shink_  of metal slicing through something.

When the light cleared, Venus and Mars stood in front of Serenity: Mars hand on Venus shoulder and Venus arm extended in front of them, the ancient sword still raised in a defense position.

“Venus! Mars!” Saturn gasped as Mars turned to haul her to her feet. She ended up slinging one of Saturn’s arms over her shoulder as she hobbled on one foot. Mars' right palm was full of furious fire.

“Twenty-two ain’t bad,” Venus said. “Let’s get all sides covered.”

“Right,” Serenity nodded, turning around so that she, Mars, Saturn, and Venus, were all back-to-back.

“Here goes,” Venus said, raising her right hand up towards the Sunspots. “ _Venus Passionate Vengeance!”_

“ _Mars Flame SNIPER!”_

_“Silence Glaive Surprise!”_

“ _Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!”_

They were lucky the sunspots had clustered so close together around them. Venus attack had incinerated a full half of them before they could so much as dodge, and Serenity moved her scepter in an agile enough arc to take out another five, just the same as Mars and Saturn’s combined attacks.

They were readying a defense against the remaining two monsters when a flurry of pink snowflakes engulfed them, reducing both to harmless shards of crystal.

“Mama!” Chibi Moon screamed as she ran to her, and Serenity picked her up and spun her, holding the girl close.

“Are you hurt,” she asked Chibi Moon, running her hand up and down her daughter’s back just to be sure.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, looking all around at the shards of crystal that now littered the ground. “They knew I was here!”

“They did,” Mars confirmed. “The enemy’s been reading the papers too – there’ll be more attacks”

“ _Mars!”_ Serenity realized at once, beaming at her and wrapping an arm around her, pulling her as close as she could while she was supporting Saturn. “You’re okay!”

“Of course I am!” Mars huffed. “I’m not letting you hurt yourself battling these things alone.”

“I’m so happy you’re back!” Serenity sniffed. “Oh – this is perfect!” she sniffed, setting down Chibiusa so she could properly hug Mars. “Happy Birthday!” she beamed tearfully.

~ _Á Suivre_ ~


	13. Family Matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "The user formerly known as gh" will probably have riddled out what's happening to Michiru by the end of the chapter. Probably. If not all will be revealed next weekend. And the user formerly known as gh will probably try to kill me when that reveal happens if they don't riddle it out now...
> 
> AS FOR THIS CHAPTER (which was part of a double update. Read 12 first READ 12 FIRST) if you think the title suggests fluff - think again. Feels are gonna fly in this chapter. I know. Cause I wrote it. And I cried.

**Family Matters**

Despite Rei's insistence that she didn't need a party and Haruka's concern it was a waste of their time. nothing could stop Makoto's determination, especially not once Usagi and Mina were in on her plan.

So it was that Hikawa shrine hosted the most jovial gathering of Senshi since Mamoru’s farewell dinner two months prior. The trees and the porch had already been decorated with a plethora of colored lights and lanterns, courtesy of Mr. Hino and Makoto. And music carried all through the house and onto the grounds. The cake, which Makoto insisted was a rush job, came out of the kitchen three layers high with flowers frosted onto it in such amazing detail that everyone felt guilty at the thought of eating them.

They tried their best to have their mood match the occasion: Usagi, Mina and Chibiusa putting forth a huge effort in that regard. Indeed, for the first two hours or so that afternoon, with Mina and Usagi piling present after present into Rei's arms, it truly was a happy occasion.

As evening fell, though, the mood of the party goers waxed and waned. As soon as there was a pause in the activity, No one could help their attention being drawn to other, more pressing matters.

"They knew Chibi Moon or Saturn went to school there," Setsuna worried to Haruka and Michiru

They were watching Usagi, Mina, Chibiusa, and Makoto challenge each other to a game of twister while Hotaru dictated every move with the spinner and Rei’s Grandfather tried to explain the point of the game to a perplexed Nephrite.

"They knew,” Setsuna continued. “Somehow they're taking their cues from the news. They separated us to try getting them alone."

"It nearly worked," Haruka said. "If we hadn’t got lucky at the beginning of the first battle, we'd have been far less capable of sending Sailor Moon back. "

"They could attack us anywhere then," Michiru murmured. "The racetrack, the pool, the bakery...all those are places the media’s advertised to the public as places we frequent."

"Juuban isn’t big either," Haruka carried on. "Any attack concentrated here could target us unawares. and one wrong picture in the papers could show them exactly where we live."

Across the room, relaxing with a cup of tea and cup of coffee, Rei and Ami's conversation wasn't much different.

"I only sensed it just before," Rei told her. "I can't tell if that means my connection to the enemy isn’t a strong one, or if it really does make its decisions that impulsively." Rei sighed, staring into her tea.

"I’m not sure it's a good idea for you to carry on trying to connect to it," Ami worried. "We have the detection software now. We can sense the sunspots as they approach."

"Is it enough though?” Rei considered. “You sensed the attack half way across the globe... but I saw what it's objective was." She looked at Ami. "if it keeps up attacking multiple places we'll need both."

Ami sighed "I suppose that's true." she got quiet a moment. "How many of the sunspots do you think it has."

Rei swallowed, thinking if the lights in her vision. "Thousands at least."

Ami bit her lip "We think they're using the planets to hide in," she said "so they can increase their numbers. They might even be absorbing some of those planets’ powers."

"Even Mars?"

Ami nodded, looking Rei in the eyes. "There were some sunspots in the past few attacks using fire."

Rei swore, clenching her hands into fists. "Will that affect my power?"

"I don’t know; we haven’t seen enough like it to know if we're affected...we think most of those we've seen were hiding in the Earth."

Rei nodded. "We'll see more then. Maybe it takes them a while to travel here from the other planets."

"Maybe... but I think they're waiting," Ami confessed. "They're not done seeing how we fight yet."

Rei clenched her hands around her tea and watched her reflection in the water as she thought. She looked up when Usagi shrieked: she'd tripped Makoto trying to reach a blue circle and Mako'd crashed on top of her.

"They could attack us...in larger numbers, at home," Rei worried. "Like they did to Chibi Moon... they could attack the school again or the shrine… if the media ever finds your school or the penthouse.”

“They will,” Ami said. “I don’t think even Setsuna can keep ahead of the press forever.”

“Then we'll be the only warning they have," Rei whispered.

Ami nodded.

Rei closed her eyes. “I have to keep trying to see its plans," Rei told her. “Even if it’s dangerous… it’s the only advantage we might have.”

“I still don’t think it's a long-term solution,” Ami said. “These things can already attack once a day… they could attack more frequently, in larger numbers. And if they’re trying to divide our attention or catch us unawares in Juuban…it won’t matter at that point how much warning you can give.” Ami bit her lip as she thought. “We'd never get a moment to regroup.”

Rei shook her head “It won’t come to that.”

 _It might_ , Ami thought as she bit her lip. _It’s hard enough to maintain our normal lives as it is without them being able to target our homes. We need a way to keep them out of Juuban._

She was pulled from her thoughts when Rei put her hand out between them, palm up.

“We’ll figure out how to gain the upper-hand,” Rei promised her. “We both just have to keep trying harder.”

Ami nodded and clasped Rei's hand in her own. She squeezed it. "You're right." she put on a determined smile. "We can do it together."

By the time they’d made it through dinner and cake without a catastrophe occurring, even Haruka’d begun to relax. Perhaps they would get one, peaceful night after a week of nearly a battle per day.

When the sun began to set, Mina turned up the speakers and dragged one, with Makoto’s help, out onto the porch, declaring in no uncertain terms that no party was complete without dancing, and (besides) she owed Rei a proper one. She hovered, yellow wings a blur, as she dragged Rei out of the house and into the yard, holding both her hands and spinning her as she continued to fly just off the ground.

“They’re so pretty,” Chibiusa sighed, leaning on the railing of the porch alongside the others. They watched Mina twirl Rei, flying around her as she did so.   
As the music played on, Mina got herself back on the ground, and they all watched as the two of them danced under the lights hanging in the trees, the only camera in sight Rei’s Grandfather’s as he snapped a polaroid of the two before retreating into the shrine to clean up the dishes.As the third song began, Chibiusa saw Hotaru grin.

As the third song began, Chibiusa saw Hotaru grin."This is my favorite," she said as she nodded her head in time with the music.

"This is my favorite," she said as she nodded her head in time with the music."Then you should be dancing to it," Chibiusa decided, grabbing her hand. "Come on!" And, with Chibiusa in the lead, they raced off the porch, into the yard.

"Then you should be dancing to it," Chibiusa decided, grabbing her hand. "Come on!" And, with Chibiusa in the lead, they raced off the porch, into the yard.Michiru had to bite her lip to stifle her giggling as the two of them at first tried to copy Mina and Rei, and Hotaru tripped towards Chibiusa.

Michiru had to bite her lip to stifle her giggling as the two of them at first tried to copy Mina and Rei, and Hotaru tripped towards Chibiusa."I think Chibiusa's forgotten her lessons," Setsuna chuckled as Michiru laced and unlaced their fingers.

"I think Chibiusa's forgotten her lessons," Setsuna chuckled as Michiru laced and unlaced their fingers."And I think we need to teach our kid how to dance," Haruka decided, leaning into Michiru's other side. "This is painful to watch."

"And I think we need to teach our kid how to dance," Haruka decided, leaning into Michiru's other side. "This is painful to watch."

"Oh hush, they're adorable," Michiru said, letting go of Haruka's hand and smacking her shoulder.

Down the porch, Nephrite tapped Makoto on the shoulder and bowed to her.

“May I have this dance,” he asked with a low bow.

“S-sure,” Makoto stuttered as she blushed, taking his hand and following him out onto the grounds.

"Ami! You can dance, can’t you?" Usagi said, grabbing both her friend’s hands and pulling her away from the railing. "Come on!"

It could almost be one of the royal balls, Michiru sighed, recalling one of her few Silver Millennium memories. Mako still danced with her natural grace, and Ami with her well-timed steps (which nearly compensated for Usagi's ever-clumsy feet).

"Does she get better at this by the time she's Queen?" Michiru asked Setsuna.

"She's quite a bit more practiced by the 30th century," Setsuna said. "Though I believe King Endymion still wears thick shoes for this reason."

Haruka snorted and glanced at both of them. "Have we figured out how to tell them yet?"

"I assumed they'd find out from Mina's ability," Setsuna said. "But I don’t think it would hurt the future for them to find out another way."

"And this is a very beautiful song," Michiru said. "It would be a shame not to dance to it."

"There aren't dances for three people, though," Setsuna considered as Michiru's hold on her hand tightened, the two of them leading the way out onto the grounds.

"Ehh,” Haruka shrugged. “We're all exceptionally smart, graceful people," she said as she twirled both through a particularly dramatic note in the music. She grinned along with them. "We can make it up as we go."

So it happened that for a blissfully calm while, they all had no care except dancing with each other laughing whenever Usagi bumped into someone and (for the inner senshi) doing a double take when they noticed Michiru kissing Setsuna in the middle of a dance.

"Why didn’t you tell me?" Chibiusa muttered to Hotaru.

"My phone's busted," Hotaru said as they stepped in time with each other.

"How long have we missed that?" Makoto asked as she and Nephrite paused beside Usagi and Ami. All of them watched Michiru, Setsuna, and Haruka dance.

"It can't have been very long," Ami said.

"Awww, it doesn’t matter." Usagi sighed, grinning as the music slowed and their three friends began to sway together. "They look so happy."

"Finally!" Mina cheered in a whisper when she noticed the three of them. She looked over Rei’s shoulder at Haruka to give her a thumb’s up.

The music carried on. When Chibiusa and Hotaru demanded to be taught a real dance, Usagi, Setsuna, and Michiru retired to the porch. The three of them looked on as Ami danced with Chibiusa, and Haruka with Hotaru, walking both of them through a basic set of steps. While they did, Rei pulled Mina in close and rested her head on her shoulder, standing on Mina's toes. They hovered just off the ground. And to their left, Makoto and Nephrite carried on dancing.

The stress that hung over all their lives was banished for those fleeting moments by the tune of the music.

It wasn’t to last, though. Midway through spinning Hotaru, Haruka paused and straightened up at the same time as Minako did. Mina lowered both she and Rei to the ground and folded her wings quickly behind her.

She and Haruka’d heard the same sounds far below the shrine's steps: the screech of tires, and the rattling of a news van door.  
"Damn it," Mina cursed, the clamor already obvious as reporters and their cameras clambered up the hill. She glanced behind her. Her tank top did nothing to hide the wings.

“Here,” Ami said, shrugging off her cardigan and passing it to Mina. It was an unwelcome weight on her still-new wings, which she’d never had the need to hide before.

“Why do they have to be here?” Chibiusa pouted.

Usagi came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulders. “They probably heard Mina and Rei were back." Usagi looked up at the lights they’d lit up across the grounds. She sighed. “They couldn’t give us one night…”

“I can’t have one night home,” Rei muttered.

Mina closed her eyes and took a breath. From the sound of it, they’d reach the top of the hill soon. “I’ll talk to them,” she whispered, turning to look at Rei. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I’ll stay with you,” Rei insisted, reaching out to clasp Mina’s hand.

“No, don’t do that,” Mina said. She squeezed her hand. “It’s your birthday and you hate the reporters… head inside: finish the cake, watch that show you’ve been dying to get back to…” Mina glanced away to check the stairs. The reporters sounded like they were halfway up. She looked back at Rei. “Let me do this for you.”

Rei glanced towards the stairs, biting her lip. Then she sighed, leaning in and kissing Mina soundly. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Mina said. “I’ll be back.”

“And I can get the rest of you home,” Pluto said. She’d already transformed and conjured the Time Doors.

Haruka nodded, ushering Hotaru towards Pluto. She glanced back at Mina, who was running to the shrine steps. She watched her stop at the top of the stairs, glance down the hill, and square her shoulders before she began to descend them, intent on intercepting the reporters before they reached the top.

“Come on,” Haruka said, pushing Hotaru towards the doors. “Let's get you home.”

Hotaru sighed, glancing over at Chibiusa who was dragging her feet just the same. “Party’s over,” she muttered.

They got Chibiusa and Hotaru through the doors first, and then Ami and Usagi. Makoto and Rei lingered in the open slider door of the shrine. They could see the flash of cameras on the staircase even from here.

Haruka lingered at the Time Doors.

“Actually,” she said, kissing Pluto and then Michiru. “I’ll be back later, I’d rather not have to come back for the car.”

“And you want to give a certain someone a ride home?” Michiru mused.

“It’s a good idea,” Pluto said, stepping through the doors. “We’ll wait up for you,”

“You’d better,” Haruka said, winking at them.

When they’d gone, she leaned against the wall beside Rei and closed her eyes, concentrating on hearing the questions.

_“Did you and Mars take a vacation?”_

_“Why is it Venus is as bright as the moon now?”_

_“Did you have anything to do with the probe that was destroyed?”_

_“What are these enemies?”_

_“Who are you wearing?”_

_“That is a stupid question!”_ she heard Mina fire back. _“One at a time – oh for the love of – you – what did you ask?”_

_“Did these enemies attack Juuban Middle School to target Chibi Moon?”_

_“If they did, it’s because they read the news just like everyone else,”_ Mina said.   
_“So they’re targeting you,”_

_“Yes, because they’d like to do damage to the Earth and we’re standing in their way.”_

_“What sort of damage?”_

_“That is need to know,”_

_“Are you sure they aren’t just here for you?”_ one shouted over the others. _“Are you not the only reason we’re all in danger?”_

 _“I… No. That’s completely backward!”_ Mina fumed.

The questions continued for a while before the reporters had had their fill, leaving as it approached 9 pm, ready to roll out their material for the late-night news.

The three of them were still waiting at the doorway of the house when Mina walked up the stairs, slumping her shoulders and sighing as soon as she was out of sight of any cameras lingering at the bottom of the hill.

“I think I’ve answered enough questions to tide them over until tomorrow,” Mina told them as she reached them. “I told them I’ll give them another press conference in the morning. So they should be too distracted to come back here.” She looked at Rei. “Still a happy birthday?”

Rei smiled and leaned in to kiss Mina. “You were here,” she said. “Of course it was.”

Mina gave her a small smile. She hugged Rei close and sighed. “I should go home.”

“You could stay the night,” Makoto said. But though Mina still held onto Rei, she shook her head.

“No…Mom and Dad deserve to know I’m back without seeing it on the news first.” She took a deep breath and pulled away from Rei at last, only noticing Haruka when she put her hand on Mina’s shoulder.

“Sure you want to go?” Haruka asked.

Mina nodded. “I need to.”

~ _AgeofAquarius_ ~

Mina was quiet the entire car ride, and Haruka was quite fine with letting her collect her thoughts. She cruised slower than she usually would through the streets of Juuban, and re-angled the rearview mirror so she could more easily check on Mina as they drove. She mostly stared out the window, leaning forwards in her seat.

 _She’d probably be more comfortable if she weren’t already trying to hide those wings_ , Haruka thought.

Mina’s arms were crossed in front of her, her fingers tugging at the sleeves of Ami’s cardigan. As they turned into her neighborhood, Haruka noticed her hands curl into fists.

She pulled the car over half a block from Mina’s home.

“You don’t actually have to go back,” Haruka told her. “You could stay with Rei tonight, see them in the morning.”

But Mina shook her head. “No. I want to see them now. I need to know… I need to know if she really loves me.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Haruka asked. “Are you prepared for that?”

“Yes,” Mina nodded. “Then I’ll… stay until I figure things out. And then I’ll leave.”

Haruka nodded. “If that’s the case… and you need help moving out. Or paying for a place or anything. You call me, got it?”

Mina smiled and sniffed. “Thank you, Haruka.”

Haruka nodded, putting the car back on the road and driving them right into the driveway of Mina’s home. She watched from the driver's seat as Mina got out. Her hand over the door handle as Mina walked to her front door.

When the door opened, She saw Hikari Aino’s eyes widen and Mina gasp. Haruka saw her stiffen and moved to open the door.

And then Mina threw herself at Hikari, who hugged her back. Haruka winced when she unknowingly wrapped her arms tightly around Mina’s wings.

But Mina didn’t appear to react at all. And Haruka wished she’d thought to open the window to see what they were saying.

Hikari fussed over Mina, pushing her hair away from her face and frowning when she saw Venus symbol, now a permanent feature on Mina’s forehead. She saw Mina cover it with her left hand, holding her right out as though she were trying to reassure her mother.

 _Maybe I should have asked what you’d do if she actually did love you,_ Haruka thought.

Hikari ushered Mina into their house. And Haruka's worries about the situation heightened further when she caught a look at Mina’s face as she walked into the house. She was looking at her mother, her face nothing but determined, feverishly so, as if whatever Hikari had felt or said had filled Mina with a fresh hit of manic energy.

The last time Haruka’d seen that look on her face, she’d wound up chasing Minako around half of Juuban hoping the caffeine high, purity crazed idiot didn’t trip and crush her own heart crystal in her hands. And that was after the girl had nearly killed herself in an effort to convince the death busters she was pure enough for them to do the job for her.

Hikari glanced back at the car once Mina was inside the house. She glared at Haruka through the windshield of the car. Haruka glared right back until the woman had shut the door.

 _I wish I felt like this was a good idea,_ Haruka thought, sighing and throwing the car into reverse. Maybe Setsuna or Michiru had some insight into how Mina’s return home would go.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Unbeknownst to anyone but Setsuna, Ami had opted out of going to her apartment after the party. Instead, she’d had Setsuna drop her off at Lunar Command, gone promptly to the coffee she now kept stashed there, and pulled out the office chair that had resided at the console since March.

Her conversation with Rei fresh in her mind, Ami pulled up the software for the sunspot detection program on one screen, and the profile she’d been compiling about them on the other: Their energy signatures, their power level, their reaction when The Moon and Venus had been awakened.

 _We need to prevent them from attacking the Earth, ideally_ , Ami thought. _Or if that’s too big a job, some kind of shield that would keep them out of Juuban._

She worked half the night on both ideas: calculating the amount of power they would need for each, considering the usefulness of Elysion in the plans, and speculating about whether a shield could affect the sunspots they already knew slumbered below the Earth’s crust…

She scrapped the idea to protect the entire Earth around two in the morning. Too gargantuan a task… but Juuban… was much smaller than the core of any world. And if those could be protected, it stood to reason that a high enough concentration of their power could protect Juuban as well.

_We could still use Elysion… oh but only someone with the Earth’s power could use it… Chibi Moon certainly doesn’t have the practice yet to activate and sustain something like that._

_And Mamoru’s never used the Golden Crystal in such a way… nor at that level of power._ She bit her lip. She’d rather not risk he or Chibiusa on such a non-emergent defense…

_But we’ve created shields with our powers before… we could easily sustain one strong enough to protect Juuban everytime a sunspot attack was detected._

_But how to make it separate from us?_

Ami sketched in a notebook as she thought, ending up with a map of Minato Ward, and Azuba-Juuban district in the center of it. She traced her pencil over it, idly marking off points of interest: Her mother’s apartment, Makoto’s bakery in the neighboring district, Hikawa Shrine. She frowned thoughtfully, she’d accidentally drawn a line between the two locations…

Idly, she glanced over the map again, imagining the two locations as the outside of a hypothetical shield. She put a dot in the center of Juuban, connecting it to Hikawa Shrine first and then Makoto’s bakery in the north. She added a hypothetical point to mirror Rei’s. And moved to do the same for Makoto’s. She paused before her pencil had marked the paper.

We created a square shield to trap the Death Busters within Mugen Academy… But that wouldn’t cover my University… or the Penthouse if I put that point here.

She looked at the map again. Not a square…perhaps a pentagon. She added points in the appropriate places. Now even part of the bay would be protected.

She frowned as she looked at it. Why do I feel as though I have deja vu?

Her gaze lingered on Makoto’s shop. She’d included it and Hikawa shrine in the border purely out of convenience.

Suddenly she gasped, recalling something Makoto’d said when she’d first told them she’d signed the lease for the shop

 _“It’s in a great location!”_ Makoto had cheered as she showed them the building. _“But best of all is what used to be here.”_ She’d pointed to the sign over the awning that still read _Lucky Charms House_ across the top. _“I was gonna spring for a cheaper spot, but when this place went on sale, I figured: We’re gonna need it to be a Crystal Point in the future anyways… maybe I’m meant to use it."_

Ami’s eyes widened, her hand circling the points she’d marked on the pentagon. She scanned them into the computer and checked what, approximately was in those locations:

Hikawa Shrine…

Makoto’s bakery…

One of Juuban’s supermarkets…

Otafukuya beauty shop…

And the Chess Tower…

 _Then this works!_ Ami grinned. Her fingers racing over the computer’s key running simulations she already knew would come out positively. She began the calculations: how much power, how and when they could activate it, how much force it might withstand.

She then pulled up everything they had on the Moon Kingdom’s crystal obelisk.

She already had a pretty good idea of what they would use to anchor such a shield.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Friday morning Artemis woke up to Mina shuffling around all the clutter on her desk.

“What are you looking for?” He asked as he stretched and yawned.

“My cover up,” Mina told him.

And he was still tired. He barely thought about his response. “Kara’s been,”

“Kara!” Mina shouted, storming out of her room. He followed, hearing her slam open her sister’s door. “Stop stealing my make-up!”

“Hey!” Kara shouted back. “I need it!”

“For wh…” Artemis charged through the door and mentally kicked himself. They weren’t supposed to know…

Mina had grabbed Kara’s wrist, staring at the symbol, identical to her own, that was emblazed just below Kara’s palm like a birthmark.

“What’s this?” Mina muttered.

“I dunno,” Kara said. “I’ve been stealing your make-up to cover it. Mom freaked out when she saw hers, I didn’t want her to know I had one.”

“Mom…” and Artemis couldn’t back out of the room in time. Mina’d caught sight of him. She was frowning. “Artemis what’s she mean?”

Artemis sighed. “Luna and I aren’t 100% sure.”

“Then give me your best theory,” Mina whispered, she let go of Kara’s wrist and knelt down so she could see him better.

Artemis glanced at Kara. “We think,” he said. “They might denote other people from the Silver Millennium who were reincarnated along with you.”

“Others…” Mina murmured.

“I lived on the Moon?” Kara asked him.

“Or on Venus,” Artemis shook his head. “We think the different symbols might indicate what planet they came from.”

“So… Kara and… and Mom are from Venus,” Mina mused.

“It is a theory,” Artemis stressed. “It could be because of that that all your souls were drawn to each other when you were reincarnated…”

But he trailed off when he noticed Mina’s eyes were staring past him, unfocused.

“Mina?” he tried.

Mina barely heard him, lost as she was in the excitement that filled Aphrodite.

 _Mom could be Dione!_  she thought. _Of course! She’s always after me to be my best… and she likes the same colors… and even Dione was a little nervous about the guardian thing…_

“Mina,” Artemis said again.

“Sorry,” Mina said at once. “Do you know who they were? Could they get memories back too?”

“Could we?” Kara gasped.

“I don’t know,” Artemis said. “It’s… it’s a theory. We didn’t want you to know until we were sure.”  
“I’m sure,” Mina said. “I’m sure you’re right.” Then she looked at Kara’s wrist again and sighed. “But I guess until they remember, Mom’s still gonna be nervous about them huh?”

“I guess so,” Kara said.

“Then best to hide yours,” Mina said, giving the cover up back to Kara. “Sorry I yelled at you. Go ahead and use it. But you gotta share it.” she tapped the symbol on her own forehead. “I need it too.”

Artemis hackles raised along with his eyebrows. “You’re going to cover yours.”

“Uhuh,” Mina said, standing up and looking at it in the mirror. “I can’t get my hair to cover it, and Mom was freaked out by it last night.”

“M-mina,” Kara interrupted, and when Mina looked at her in the mirror, Kara was pointing at her back. “What’s that?”

She turned. Oh yeah… her wings were trying to unfold, straining against her shirt. Mina sighed. “Wings,” She told Kara. “Long story.” She scratched her head. "I need to find some way to keep them hidden too…"

But it didn’t matter. Mom loved her. She could feel it. _And since she was clearly Dione’s reincarnation after all… Then once she remembers, she won’t hate the Sailor thing,_ Mina decided. _And if I can just make her happy in the meanwhile…then eventually she’ll remember…and she’ll love all of me. And everything will be perfect…_

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Friday afternoon, the ten senshi trekked into Lunar Command fresh from battle and even more worried for the state of their normal lives.

Sunspots had been spotted heading for Hong Kong at 11:02. And in the minute it had taken Usagi and Mina to gather the Inner Senshi and teleport them there, a second offensive of sunspots had been detected racing through the Earth at a more rapid pace than ever, previously seen. They’d crashed through the surface at 11:03 towards the race track in northern Juuban. Only Luna’s warning had given Haruka enough time to dive from her car before a blast from a sunspot had blown it to bits.

There’d been six sunspots at the racetrack. And Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus had had no trouble destroying them, especially once Chibi Moon had arrived to help.

But there’d been twelve injuries at the race track, and two fatalities in Hong Kong, all of which were at the forefront of the Senshi's minds when they teleported into the Command Center. To say nothing for Haruka.

“10 people injured and I’m more sad about the car,” she muttered. “I can see the headlines now,”

“You’d had the car for five years,” Michiru murmured to her as they gathered around Ami and the computer. “You’re allowed to be upset about it.”

“And it just reinforces how well they can target us when we’re unprepared,” Setsuna added. “Your race was advertised all over the televisions last week.”

Haruka sighed. “The shrine, the middle school, and now my race.” She looked at all the other senshi and then at Ami, who was seated at the super-computer, typing away on the keyboard. “Tell me we have a way to keep these things off our tail.”

“Well,” Ami said. “Since we can’t do anything about the press.”

“Nothing legal anyways,” Rei muttered.

“I’ve found a way to keep them, at the very least, out of Juuban,” Ami said. And she hit one final key on the keyboard and swiveled around in her chair.

“That’s…” Mina started to say.

“Crystal Tokyo?” Chibiusa frowned.

“The crystal points to be more precise,” Ami told them, bringing up the pictures of each of the five locations. “In the future, they create a barrier around the crystal palace and it’s neighborhood. But I think what we originally need to use them for is this.” She hit another key, and now present day Tokyo was clear under the bright pentagonal shield formed by the crystal points. “It would surround all our homes, the schools, most of the places we go every day…”

“It would calm the press down about us attracting the attacks!” Minako realized. “Or at least, show them we had the capability of defending the city better.”

“And it wouldn’t matter whether all of our addresses got leaked to the internet.” Makoto grinned. “They wouldn’t get past the shield!”

“And we’d have put in place one of the central protections around Crystal Tokyo,” Setsuna was beaming, her elation and relief bleeding through so clearly that Minako could feel them across the room.

“Okay!” Minako grinned, clapping her hands together. “How do we do this Ami?”

“We need anchors,” Ami said, and on the center most of Lunar Command’s monitors, five models of crystals popped up. “We know the Crystal Obelisk on the Moon is made from the same material as the Silver Crystal – which leads me to believe that Usagi,” she nodded to her. “You should be able to create more like it,”

“Like the Crystal Palace,” Usagi murmured, pulling the locket that held her crystal out from under her shirt.

“Wouldn’t using the Silver Crystal for something so big hurt you?” Chibiusa worried.

“It has taken a lot of energy before,” Usagi considered, popping open the locket and letting the Silver Crystal hover in front of her. “But…” they all gasped when she closed her eyes a pulse of light rushing out of the crystal. All of them who’d brought back burns and bruises from the morning’s battles suddenly found their injuries gone. “I always used it on a large scale…”

“You’ve never had a small task important enough to use it on,” Luna added.

“It could still drain her energy a lot, though,” Chibiusa said. “Right?”

“We do depend on Sailor Moon a lot in these battles,” Neptune added. “Given we’re seeing an attack a day, how would Usagi craft this shield and still have the energy to fight.”

“I did some calculations,” Ami said. “And I think… if you could create each crystal anchor slowly enough – doing a little of them everyday until they were all done – you’d still have enough energy left to fight if you were needed.”

“The shield also wouldn’t need to be up all the time,” Artemis added. “We could connect it to the alert system that monitors the sunspots. It would only go up if it sensed their approach.”

“And it would borrow power from all of us,” Ami added. “No one would be left without enough to fight with.”

“It’s exactly what we need to do,” Setsuna said, still grinning. “The first step.”

“We’d need to visit each Crystal point in person,” Ami said to Usagi. “And one or more of us would need to activate each one.”

“Alright,” Usagi said, clutching the crystal tightly. “Then let’s start tonight.” She beamed at all of them. “We’ll have these things out of our homes in no time.”

In the ensuing cheering, the triumphant shouts, and the plans being made around the Computer console, no one paid much mind to Chibiusa, frowning as she sat away from them all on the couch. She was focused mostly on Setsuna.

 _She thinks it's a good idea,_ Chibiusa thought, biting her lip. _I guess it does mean Crystal Tokyo still happens._

_But…_

But in all the stories she’d ever been told, her mother had only ever created the Crystal Points after she’d been born.

 _Do I tell them that?_ Chibiusa wondered, hugging her knees as she watched Ami and Usagi conspiring together over how best to create the shield. _Does this mean Mama never faced this enemy?_

And the sunspots had been unrelenting. They’d seen an attack a day for nearly a week now.

Chibiusa took a deep breath.

 _But we need it now,_ she thought. _No matter when it’s supposed to be built._

 _I won’t worry them,_ Chibiusa decided. _After all…all that’d change is my bedtime stories…_

~AgeofAquarius~

Directly after the meeting, the lot of them braved the cameras to walk together in the sun, to Hikawa shrine, the first Crystal Point they’d decided to try and build. It was a relatively safe two block stroll, as no one had considered that the senshi would make their base somewhere so ridiculous as the basement of the Arcade, and Motoki had yet to say anything. He even waved at them and winked as they left the building.

“At least we still have some friends in this city,” Mina sighed, stretching out her arms and wincing as she did. She lowered them back to her sides quickly.

“Are you okay?” Rei worried, catching Haruka’s attention as she walked ahead of them. She slowed down to walk beside Minako.

“Yeah,” Mina assured her. “Just… not quite used to concealing the wings yet.”

Haruka frowned. She hadn’t been focused on it earlier but now that she did… Mina’s wings had still been visible yesterday when she’d returned, even with the cardigan they hadn’t folded completely flat.

“Why are you hiding them exactly?” Makoto asked. “The press saw you fight today: they gotta know you have them.”

“Well yeah but they know Sailor Moon has them too and they’re not permanently attached to her,” Mina said, frowning. “And I… haven’t exactly told my parents about them yet.”

“Are you going to?” Rei asked as Haruka continued to watch Mina closely. Whatever she’d done to hide her wings so thoroughly was even affecting her walk now that Haruka was paying attention to it. Mina’s steps were smaller…almost as if she were trying to limit how much she moved.

“Not sure yet,” Mina said, biting her lip. “Eventually. Maybe. I mean she still feels nervous every time she looks at the Sailor symbol. Me with wings,” Mina smirked. “That’d be up there with Artemis talking in her book.”

“That is completely normal,” Artemis muttered as he trailed behind them with Luna. Only Haruka heard.

And she was focused on something else now. She hadn’t noticed when Mina’d been on the opposite side of the Command Center, but up close.

“You put make-up over your sailor symbol,” Haruka accused.

“Well… yes,” Mina sighed.

“But your mother knows about it,”

“And she feels all sorts of angry and confused everytime she sees it,” Mina said. “And she loves me,” she shrugged, wincing as the movement pulled at her wings. “Least I can do is not freak her out if I don’t have to.” She sighed. “I’m handling my mother.” She told them all, walking slightly ahead.

Haruka’s frown was mirrored by Rei, and Makoto, and Artemis.

“That’s what she said before,” Makoto whispered.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Between dusk on Friday and dawn on Saturday, there were four more attacks on Juuban: at 21:00, 00:34, 2:05, and the last at 4:17.

By the end of the fight, against five sunspots in the park, the senshi were on high alert for the expected, second prong of the attack. It meant not a one of them fell asleep before midnight, and that Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Setsuna were still awake when Rei alerted them to the second attack five minutes before the computers did.

The attack at 00:34 saw ten sunspots descending, once more, on Hikawa shrine, these with a mix of attacks from the whirlwinds of rose petals to those with black lightning sparking off their shadow bodies. Though Rei and Makoto managed to take out two of the ten well before the others arrived, these sunspots did not cluster together as some of the others had. It made them much harder to defeat and left Mina with burnt wings when she lost sight of one in pursuit of another.

The fight at Hikawa didn’t end until nearly 1:00 and it seemed they’d barely fallen asleep when the notification about the third attack – once more on the TV tower, blared from their communicators.

That fight gave them eight to worry about with a concerning new twist: two sunspots that could attack with chilling cyclones of water. They absorbed Passionate Vengeance and Deep Submerge, sweeping up Venus, Jupiter, and Neptune and sending them flying towards the nearby buildings.

Jupiter kept herself from crashing by pulling her hammer over her head, taking control of the flight though her control over the maneuver was still jerky at best.

Venus crashed through the tenth story window of the building across the street, knocking over the walls of a cubicle and leaving the impression of her wings and shoulders permanently embedded in a desk.

Ow… Mina thought, clutching her left shoulder as she sat up.

 _Get up!_ Mars voice cried urgently in her head, prompting Venus to scramble to her feet. Outside.

She was running to the window when she saw the flash of aqua hair plummet past the windows.

_Shit!_

Neptune had crashed into the same building, slamming into the concrete wall at the level of the fifteenth floor. Her transformation had failed in a flash.

Venus dove out the window, tucking her wings as close to herself as she could. She grabbed a fainted Michiru under the shoulders four stories from the ground and spread her wings wide, grinding her teeth against how painful it was to exercise them after having bound them flat against her back all day.

Mercury managed to freeze the next pair of water spouts, leaving Sailor Moon the opening she needed to knock the two sunspots out of the battle.

Venus and Moon managed two more a piece. And by the time the combined efforts of Chibi Moon, Pluto, and Uranus finished off the final pair, Michiru was awake, frowning as she tucked back her hair and stared, eyes drooping from fatigue, into the Aqua Mirror.

“It’s never happened so suddenly…” she murmured, tucking her hair back in frustration as she tried, several times, to see why. All the mirror would show her were its seeming default image of Haruka’s dark blue eyes.

Seconds later, she was staring into the real pair of dark blue eyes and then her equally favorite pair of red ones as Uranus and Pluto fretted over her.

“I’m fine,” Michiru assured them both, yawning and then scowling because of it.

Her eyes drooped closed the second she’d leaned her head against Pluto’s chest.

“Of course your fine,” Pluto whispered. Her concerned frown was mirrored on Uranus face. “Just tired.”

Mars cleared her throat then, drawing all of their attention.

“There’ll be one more attack,” she said, her voice fading into a yawn. All of them groaned.

They didn’t make it home from the TV tower until nearly 2:40. And though it took seconds to transport all of them home with the Time Doors, Michiru was already asleep when the outer senshi walked back into their home.

Haruka entered their room first. She pulled back the covers and sitting on the edge of their bed, hugging her arms and biting her lip as she watched Setsuna settled Michiru on the mattress and pull the covers back over her. She didn’t stir once.

“What is wrong with her?” Haruka whispered.

Setsuna worried her own lip between her teeth and squeezed Michiru’s hand in hers. “I don’t know.” She said. “Maybe she really does have the flu.” She let go of Michiru’s hand and Haruka watched as she unclipped the teal communicator from Michiru’s wrist. “But whatever it is, she clearly needs her sleep.”

Haruka nodded. “Good idea.” She sighed and stood up. “Come on,” she said, beckoning Setsuna. “Ours would still wake her up.”

Setsuna sighed as well, the two of them making their way, reluctantly, through the Penthouse to the living room. They sank down heavily onto the couch and Setsuna opened her palm, staring at Michiru’s communicator.

“She’ll be mad.” Setsuna shook her head. “But she shouldn’t fight another one tonight.”

Haruka put her hand over Setsuna’s, taking the communicator from her and putting it in her own pocket.

“I’ll tell her it was my idea,” Haruka said. “You have enough that you’re worrying about.”

Everyone but Mina managed to get at least another hour of sleep (for all the good it did them) before a final five sunspots attacked a random residential area at 4:17.

“Now can I sleep,” Usagi yawned, leaning heavily on Makoto.

“I think so,” Rei told her.

“Think I’ll open late tomorrow,” Makoto yawned.

“Lucky you,” Mina groaned, rubbing her eyes. “I have a press conference in four hours.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

_“We’re doing everything we can…”_ Dr. Tomoe heard Sailor Venus voice from the television as he stepped through his front door after a morning in the office.

 _“That was the main take away from Sailor Venus remarks early this morning,”_ the news presenter said. _“And, honestly, it seems true. Given the footage from the third of last night’s four attacks, there are many who’ve expressed sympathy for her.”_

Initially, he walked slowly down the hall, bracing for another fight with Hotaru about how important it was that she live with her other parents more often so she could help with these messes. As he walked, the roars and explosions that accompanied so many senshi battles carried down the hall.

But it was his daughter’s scream, on the tail of an unremarkable, muted ‘ _thud,’_ that saw him abandon his hesitance and charge into the room.

She was sitting right in front of the screen, her hand over her mouth. And he watched as the image of the news castor came back on, the dramatic shot of Michiru Kaioh plummeting down the face of a building still playing on a loop behind him.

He reached for the remote on the coffee table.

“Don’t!” Hotaru shouted, spinning around and holding her hand palm-out. Souichi Tomoe flinched back when the remote flew away from him, landing in Hotaru’s outstretched hand.

 _Since when could you do that?_ he wondered. From the stunned look on his daughter’s face, the answer might have been just now.

She sniffed once, clutching the remote close and turning back to the TV, her fingers lingering over the still playing image of Sailor Neptune’s fall.

“I missed five attacks.” Hotaru said. “In two days… _Five_.” He could see the reflection of her tears on the television screen. “Silence Wall could have trapped that cyclone,” she mumbled.

He walked up behind her. Kneeling and putting his hands on her shoulders.

“They’re alright,” he promised her. “They won.”

“They needed me.”

“They could’ve called your phone.”

“There’s never time to think about that,” Hotaru said, crying harder and turning into his shoulder. “Why can’t I find my communicator?” she sobbed. “I’m so stupid.”

Souichi sighed. “It’s alright,” he murmured. “You’ll find it, I promise.” He swallowed the lump in his throat.

Her communicator burned in his pocket as he watched Michiru’s fall play over and over on the television.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Sunday morning, when Mako’s bakery was closed, Usagi woke up just as early as she would have when there was the thought of pastries to encourage her. She was climbing Hikawa’s steps before the sun had fully risen and was hard at work on the Crystal Point, well before Makoto and Rei ventured out of the house.

They walked out together as she worked, sweat trickling down her brow as she held the glowing Silver Crystal out in front of her, the replica of the crystal obelisk, which had reached her knees after she’d finished working on it yesterday afternoon, had already grown as high as her chest.

When her arms began to shake around eight in the morning, Rei and Makoto reached out at the same time to put their hands on her shoulders.

And the obelisk height stretched more quickly, climbing another twenty centimeters and flashing once, a silver glow lingering in the crystal’s core.

Usagi opened her eyes and grinned. “It worked!” and then wrapped her hands around the Silver Crystal and swayed.

“I think when Ami said to work slowly,” Makoto said as she and Rei moved to hold Usagi up. “She meant in more than three days.”

“I know,” Usagi whispered. “But there could be another attack any second.” She looked at them. “The faster I get these done, the faster I can protect all of you.”

“We’d fight them whether they were over our heads or not, Usagi,” Rei said.

“I know,” Usagi insisted as the three of them made their way towards the shrine. “But there needs to be one place we don’t have to worry about them.” She looked at the still glowing Silver Crystal. “If I can do it faster, I will.” She said. “This isn’t nearly as hard as half the things I’ve used this for.”

“Just don’t overdo it,” Makoto advised. “Then you’ll have to listen to Rei saying ‘I told you so.’”

“Damn right she will,” Rei said, frowning as her phone buzzed. She glanced at it and swore again.

“What?”

“What is she thinking?” Rei muttered, and they both saw her tap out twitter and over to her messages, chosing Mina’s name at the top of the list.

“Are you stalking her on Twitter?” Usagi asked.

“Someone has to,” Rei said as she hit the keypad on her phone with angry stabs of her fingers. “Venus is doing another concert?”

“What?” Makoto and Usagi gasped.

“Tomorrow.”  
“How do they throw these things together this quickly?” Makoto wondered.

“It’s Venus, and its in the park,” Rei answered. “No need to reserve a venue.” She sighed as she read her next text. “I hate her mother.”

Minako <3: M. still thinks its good idea. I agree. Its humanzing. Or wutever.

Minako <3: It doesnt hurt us. Plus its spur of the moment. No time for evil to plan attack.

"Route Venus": And you WANT to do this?

"Route Venus": I want to make my mother happy. Show her Im still me.

Rei bit her lip. “You’ve always been you!” she said, glaring at the screen.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Michiru sighed as she leaned over the sinks in the Orchestra Hall and set her purse on the counter top, fishing out the bottle of ibuprofen she’d stuffed in there that morning.

Even with the big, spring performance going on next week, perhaps she would really have done better to stay home.

But she’d been too excited to have confirmation at last that it really was only the damn flu. That she hadn’t even considered the perfectly adequate excuse for a sick day.

 _Besides, the medicine was doing its job. And I’m not sitting at home letting those two fret about futures they can’t control,_ she thought. _Whatever’s going to be wrong with me in the future isn’t wrong with me now; Setsuna’s just over-cautious._

“Michiru!” her friend Yuki called as she popped her head in the door. “Your make up looks perfect. As usual. Hurry up, break’s almost over.” Then she noticed the medicine on the counter and gasped. “Oh no! You caught the bug too!”

“I’ve been catching it,” Michiru told her, “Today it seems to have finally caught thought.”

“Oh you poor thing!” Yuki said. “I thought those super powers would make you immune.”

“Sadly they are not quite that impressive,” Michiru said. “It’s alright though,” she shook the ibuprofen and smirked. “Modern medicine seems to have done the trick, I’ve been much better since this morning.”

“You’re stronger than me then, that’s for sure.” Yuki said staring at her. “Gosh – when I caught it I didn’t get out of bed for two days! How are you even real?”

“I am decidedly stubborn,” she chuckled.

 _Besides,_ Michiru thought, brushing off the differences between her own symptoms, and Yuki’s. _This bug’s already made a mess of my fighting abilities. Hell if it’s going to bar me from rehearsal too._

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Rei warned them Sunday morning they might see another attack before the weekend was out. And they did. Another two-pronged attack at dinner time: fifteen sunspots attacked the city of Osaka and another seven hit western Juuban – in the neighborhood around the Penthouse where Michiru and Haruka were often seen.

Venus got there the fastest after Uranus – attacking from the air while Uranus attacked from the ground. Mars and Neptune were on their way. Pluto and the others had gone to fight the larger force in Osaka.

Venus was flying slowly, Uranus noted as she threw a World Shaking up to merge with a Love and Beauty Shock (The resulting pulse took out two of the seven sunspots they were fighting). Her sharp eyes could see from here how heavily Venus’ wings beat.

 _I was not imagining her being more agile the other day,_. Uranus thought. She watched Venus hit three with Passionate Vengeance and jerk to the left as a dark blast of energy was shot at her from above. She wasn’t fast enough. The blast clipped her wing.

Uranus kept the Sunspots back with Space Sword Blaster, long enough to leap up and catch Venus before she could fall.

“Focus,” she ordered her as she landed them on the ground and turned to cover Venus back. World Shaking just barely parrying an attack of rose petals.

“Sorry!” Venus said, Raising her sword and letting off her newest attack Moonlight Lovely Blast. It sliced right through the next gust of rose petals and cleaved the sunspot in two, its darkness fading until the crystal shard within plinked onto the ground.

The final sunspot met its demise at the hands of four attacks, Neptune’s and Mars’ joining with theirs as they sprinted down the sidewalk further down the block.

“Mercury, status?” Venus said into the communicator. Uranus turned to look at her and frowned.

Her wings were swollen.

“ _Down to three,”_ Mercury said through the communicator. “ _You’re good to de-transform… We’ve got this covered.”_

“Let me know if that changes,” Venus said, detransforming in a flash into her tee shirt and jeans. Her wings left no indication of hiding beneath her clothes.

Uranus grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Ow!” Mina winced, and Uranus knew why immediately as she pulled up the back of Mina’s shirt.

“You _bandaged_ them.” Uranus hissed as Mina jerked away from her, tugging her shirt back down. “Minako,” she said sternly. “Just tell your mother.”

“I can’t!” Mina cried. “Her whole life’s been turned over by me. And she’s still trying to love me! It’s not that bad.”

“Bad enough that it’s hurting you and you’re fighting,” Uranus argued.

“I’m still getting used to it,” Mina hissed. “Look it’s just… until she remembers.”

 _Remembers what?_  Uranus thought, but shook her head. It didn’t matter.

“Mina this is stupid,” Uranus told her bluntly as Rei and Michiru reached them. “Hikari isn’t worth this.”

“How would you know!” Mina cried. “You don’t have parents!” Then she froze, probably sensing Uranus shock as much as seeing it on her face. Mina sighed. “Sorry – Look,” she told Uranus. “She loves me. And I’m finally making her happy. And I never made her happy when I was Aphrodite… I can do this for her at least. Only until she feels more comfortable with the Sailor thing.”

“She’s had two years.”

“You don’t understand, Haruka!” Mina shouted, grabbing Rei’s hand and dragging her away from Haruka and Michiru. “I can handle it.”

“She thinks _you_ don’t understand parents like Hikari?” Michiru whispered.

Uranus sighed. “Of course I understand,” she said, gazing after Mina. “I know exactly what she’s doing.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Monday morning, Sailor Venus strutted out onto the stage in the park, smiling as she flexed her wings. None in the crowd knew the stunning appendages weren’t normally supposed to sport orange and green-tinted bruises. She beamed in the face of the shouts and the camera flashes, feeling more like her empathic powers were a boon than she had in a long while.

It was so easy to feed off the crowd’s energy and pretend it was her own.

“There’s my Mina,” she heard her mother sniff through her headset. “You’re going to wow them today, Honey.”

“You bet,” Mina said. She even remembered her songs this time. She’d rehearsed them ten times the night before and then three times on the way here. And her mother was happy. And this was fun. She focused on the crowd’s enthusiasm. Of course this was fun.

Out of Mina’s sight, every senshi save Saturn and Chibi Moon was stationed around the stage, hidden in the branches of the trees.

Mars was the closest, standing on one of the branches just behind the stage.

She’d had a vision an hour ago. The sunspots had seen the concert advertisement. They’d be here. She’d told Mina, who’d said that cancelling it would reveal to the Sunspots that they had eyes on them too.

“ _This show has to go on,”_ Mina’d insisted.

 _I might partially agree with you,_ Rei thought. _Doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you get your ass kicked_.

Venus made it halfway through her show before the sunspots arrived, hitting the stage with blasts of dark energy that sent splinters of it flying and all the backstage crew diving for the ground, Hikari Aino among them. Her call with Tokyo’s most popular talk show was still running when she screamed and dropped her phone as Sailor Venus jerked her away from the dark energy attack with the love chain.

The force of fifteen that arrived to target Mina was no match for eight senshi all together. Though the park was in chaos, they’d reined them in within ten minutes, and had enough time to catch their breath before another attack was reported in the Shopping Mall.

“Why don’t you stay,” Sailor Moon suggested when she noticed Venus scanning around the park. “Find your mother… you never know… maybe this will make her warm up to Venus.”

“Yeah,” Sailor Venus grinned, “Yeah I bet it will… but you need me.”

 _“I’m only detecting four approaching,”_ Luna said through the communicator.

“We can handle four,” Mercury assured Venus. “You have relationships to mend.”

And the seven of them teleported away in a flash, leaving Venus to push away her guilt.

 _I could still follow them,_ she thought as she stepped across the grass, pacing back to the area behind the stage that her mother might have taken cover in. _But…_

_But I still don’t know how to make Mom remember Dione… if I could get her to understand now… this is perfect._

As she walked through the grass, she caught sight of her mother’s phone, still mid-call. She picked it up, hung up the call, and frowned.

It was displaying her mother’s most recent contacts. And second from the top:  _Souichi Tomoe._

Without pausing to doubt herself, Venus went to her mother’s messages, Souichi’s name was on top of the list.

 _Taking her communicator was a good choice on your part,_ her mother’s message read. _I wish I’d had that option with Mina…_

 _What?_  Venus scrolled back up through the previous slew of texts, skimming through Hikari’s and Souichi’s frustrations over she and Hotaru fighting, pausing every time she saw something in her mother’s texts about options or actions.

She scrolled all the way back to March on a hunch and found exactly what she’d feared on the exact date she’d feared finding it.

March 14th: _I won’t tell them about Hotaru. I’ll leave that to your judgement. But the shock of the publicity might just be enough to convince her this isn’t what she wants._

Tomoe: _You think that will work with your daughter._

 _Hardly_ , Hikari’d replied. _It makes me so sad, getting Minako back will be so much harder._

Shaking, Venus shot into the air, high over the park, and opened her communicator. “Artemis,” she said. “Can you meet me at Lunar Command.”

 _“I just left,_ ” he said. “ _But I can be there in five minutes.”_

 _“Good,”_ she said. Then teleported there herself.

When Artemis leapt down the stairs into the command center, he found Mina leaning over the console in just her sports bra. Her wings drooped freely behind her and her shirt, and a mess of bandages lay around her feet.

“What were those for?” he asked as he hopped up onto the console next to her.

“Later,” Mina said. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

He watched Mina set a familiar, hot pink cell-phone down on the console.

“I need you to access my mother’s phone records.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Mina waited until Kara’d left the house to visit a friend’s before going inside and sitting down at the kitchen table.

Her father would be at work until ten, but that was fine.

Her mother was home. She was doing the laundry as far as Mina’s ears could tell. And it was her whom Mina was most eager to speak to.

“ _You were right,_ ” Artemis had sighed. “ _She made a call to the newspapers at 23:45 on March 13th… I can probably get a transcript.”_

 _“Don’t bother._ ” Mina told him. _“I know what she said.”_

As she heard her mother’s footsteps approaching, she slid the pink phone into the middle of the kitchen table.

 _“She has a Venus symbol on her wrist._ ” Mina’d said to Artemis, still staring hard eyed at the computer. “ _Be honest… is there any way… In any of your theories… that she’s Dione.”_

But Artemis had shaken his head.  _“No. We haven’t found nearly enough others with similar symbols to suggest that large portions of Venesiens were reincarnated. Though we’ve found many with the Moon’s crescent… our best guess is that only people who were on the Moon at the time of the attack would have been caught in the reincarnation magic.”_

Hikari gasped as she entered the room. Mina felt the twin flares of delight, and what was love dipped heavily in pride, followed immediately by a shock of cold fear and disgust as Hikari stared at her wings.

“Mina,” she whispered. “I thought you said those were just part of your uniform.”

“They’re not,” Mina said. “But that doesn’t matter right now.” She tapped her mother’s phone. “You outed us to the press.”

Hikari gaped at her. “I most certainly didn’t!”

It was the easiest lie Mina or Aphrodite had ever discerned.

“How could you,” Mina whispered. Her chair scrapped against the kitchen floor as she stood, clenching her hands. “It’s your fault none of us have any peace anymore. It’s your fault this enemy knows exactly where to attack us.” Her voice rose to a shout. “It’s your fault _Rei_.” She bit he lip as her voice cracked.

“I have nothing to do with any enemies of Venus’ and the senshi.” Hikari said, her hands raised in front of her. “Mina… please understand… I did this for you.”

“How!” Mina spat.

“Venus is taking you away from me.” Hikari said. And she believed the truth of every word. “Minako,” she said softly, and Mina hated that she could feel love laced through her as she spoke. “We used to be so close…every pageant, every show, every award, every trip…” she shook her head. “And ever since you let Venus take over your life, I’ve watched all that slip through my fingers.”

She walked up to Mina, smoothing her hair back from her face. Mina jerked her head away.

Hikari sighed. “I love you, Mina. I want you back. I don’t like this person who’s…possessed you.

“I’m not possessed,” Mina hissed. “Venus is me. She’s always been me.”

“She’s not!” Hikari shouted. “She’s violent. She’s serious. She’s not a bit concerned about anything my Minako was.”

Mina felt the love Hikari felt for her waning, and waning, and resisted the urge to try and grab it back.

“If you wanted her to go away so much,” Mina said. “Why’d you out all of us to the press.”

“I was running out of ideas.” Hikari said. “Goodness, ever since you came back and let her into our lives I’ve been watching more and more of you slip away from me.”

“I would have anyways,” Mina said. “I didn’t become a different person mom. I grew up. I wanted to like different things.”

“You always wanted to be a star,” her mother said, throwing her hands up. “You were a star. You were my star. And you had no interest whatsoever in any of that. It was all your new friends. Or your training. And now your fighting… she was getting angrier and angrier the more she talked and it was making Mina tremble. “No matter how hard we tried. We couldn’t get our Mina back.” Hikari said. “So I thought, maybe if you didn’t have to choose…if Venus could do all the same things Minako used to do…then maybe more of Minako would shine through and I wouldn’t have to see Venus anymore.

“I am Minako!” Mina shouted. “Just Minako.” She took a deep breath. “And I can’t even look at you. How could you do this? Hotaru can’t even live with her parents anymore because you!” Mina shouted. “And none of us have a moment’s peace. And Rei got hurt! Because you -”

“I needed you back!” Hikari said. “None of the rest is my fault, Mina. Stop putting the blame where it shouldn’t be.”

“Venus… is me.” Mina seethed.

Hikari hung her head. “Then she’d better go.Venus isn’t my daughter.”

“Fine,” Mina spat, eyes darting to the car keys hanging by the door. “Then you’re not my mother!” she stormed over to the keys, jerking them off their hook. “I’m leaving,” she said, staring at her mother.

But Hikari only shrugged and shook her head.

“If Venus is who you want to be,” Hikari said. “Then don’t bother coming home.”

“I won’t!” Mina shouted. She spun around and slammed the door, storming over the the driver’s side door of her car and jerking it open, gunning the engine as she slammed the door behind her.

She floored it out of the driveway.

 _How could she!_ Mina fumed as she sped through the neighborhoods, screeching around the corners. _All the work I did for her, how could she._

_And she’s from Venus. Or at least she’s got a mark on her wrist. And that doesn’t mean anything to her._

_Does dad agree?_

She went to call him, and realized her pockets were empty. “Shit,” she muttered. She’d left her phone in her purse… and her purse on the kitchen table.

She raced onwards, speed climbing above 160 kph… 180… 200 as she jerked the car up onto the highway that overlooked the bay.

 _What did I do so differently?_ Mina thought. _Is me now really so different than who I should have been?_

_What did I do to make her think so backward._

_What did I not do?_

_Why didn’t I fight harder to get her to see._

_I still don’t know why!_ Mina fumed. _I need to know why she thinks this way._

She’d just decided to turn the car around when she saw the blue lights flashing behind her.

“Oh fuck,” she muttered, easing the car over to the side of the road. Just perfect… now she’d be the only senshi with a record.

She fidgeted in her seat, trying hard to hide her wings behind her, as the officer approached the car.

“Do you understand how fast you were going?”

“a-above the speed limit,” she stammered. The policeman raised his eyebrows.

“License and registration, please."

She went to reach for both and froze. They were both in her purse. “Ah…” she swallowed. “I’m sorry… I was very stupid.” She tried to laugh. He did not feel amused at all.” “I left them… at home.”

“Typical,” he muttered. “Whatever. What’s your home address?”

“My home…” she started to say and her voice caught in her throat.

_“Don’t bother coming home…”_

“Where you live…” the officer said in a brusque voice.

“I…”

_“Venus isn’t my daughter…”_

“I don’t have all day,” the officer said. “You sailor senshi don’t get special privileges to speed around endangering people. Tell me where you live. Or I can bring you into the station.”

“I… I”

“Alright, quit stammering and get outa the car.” He said, reaching for his handcuffs.

Mina’s seatbelt sprang off as she launched out of her seat, her wings pushing the officer to the ground as they carried her up, up, up.

“The fuck?”

 _“Don’t bother coming home,”_ her mother had said.

 _Did she really mean it,_ Mina wondered, barely feeling the taser strike against her ankle. _I can’t go home._

“Get down here!” the officer shouted.

_I can’t get arrested… the press would go nuts!_

But Mina couldn’t see either. And she couldn’t think. Her eyes were blurry and her head felt full.

 _What did I do?_ she thought as she flew off, blue in every corner of her vision. _What did I do?_

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Suna: You’re going to need the helicopter

Haruka got the text message from her a few seconds before the phone call that said she needed to come collect her Ferrari from the impound lot. Or rather, she realized once they’d rattled off the license plate number, Mina’s Ferrari.

She had another text from both of them once she was off the phone.

Suna: fly about 62 km at 234 degrees. She’ll be easy to spot.

Michiru: Remember to keep a handle on your emotions.

She was flying out of the harbor five minutes later, wondering exactly what Minako’d been thinking ditching the car and flying herself this far out into the Pacific.

She found her on a sorry excuse of an island at the exact moment her “Distance Flown” hit the 62 km mark.

Mina was curled up on a large rock, hugging her knees as the sea sprayed her with every crash of the waves against the stones. She didn’t look up when Haruka hovered the helicopter overhead, her chin remained balanced on her knees as she stared out towards the horizon.

There was barely enough room on the narrow island to land the helicopter, but she managed. Mina didn’t seem to have reacted at all to the fierce winds kicked up by her landing. Haruka approached Mina slowly, stepping as lightly as she could across the rocks and sand.

“Quite a ways to go for sightseeing,” Haruka said, though Mina didn’t respond past a shrug. “I got a call earlier,” Haruka tried again. “Seems someone thought you abandoned your car and they had it impounded.”

“Sorry…” Mina whispered. Her ears turned pink as she glanced at Haruka. “I didn’t mean to,”

“I figured you didn’t,” Haruka assured her as Mina looked away. “Wanna tell me what happened?”

Mina nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat.

“I was stupid,” she started, causing Haruka to frown. “I should have noticed for crying out loud, she was so eager to help and she had way more news connections than I remembered and I just passed it off as…” Mina sighed.

“What should you have noticed?” Haruka asked gently, putting a hand on Mina’s shoulder. Her frown deepened when Mina shrugged her hand away.

“My mother’s the one who leaked our identities to the press,” Mina said quietly. “She’s the reason the enemy’s repeatedly terrorizing Juuban. And she’s the reason Rei...” Mina sniffed, ducking her head and rubbing her eyes.

“And why’d you end up out here?” Haruka asked, trying to set aside her rage at Mrs. Aino for a moment.

“I left,” Mina sniffed. “To think.” She rubbed her eyes with her hand again. “I dunno anymore…” Mina swallowed. She put her head in her hands, shaking it. “I’m such a failure.”

Haruka reached out for her again. “You didn’t fail at–” ‘anything’ Haruka started to say, but was cut off by Mina pulling away, face red.

“I did though!” Mina said. “I failed at being a good daughter, and I’ve put the team and myself in danger for it. And… I’m sure I’ve failed at being an idol, and an actress. I must have.”

“Why?” Haruka demanded.

“Because I don’t understand!” Mina shouted. Then she hiccupped. And put her head in her hands. In a much softer voice, she continued. “Mom loves me,” Minako shook her head, her fingers beginning to tug at her hair. “I know she loves me,” she said. “And Dad loves me… I just… I must have failed at something! Did they do this to punish me? Because I didn’t try hard enough to balance my real life with this? Or maybe I didn’t explain well enough?”

“No,” Haruka said immediately. But Mina didn’t seem to have heard her.

“It has to be something. If I’d just been able to be better…” Mina continued rambling. She still wasn’t looking at Haruka. She just continued shaking her head with her hands still fisted in her hair.

Haruka moved in front of her, kneeling though the seawater rushed up to soak through her shoes and jeans. She slipped her own hands between Minako’s and held her face to make absolutely certain Mina was looking at her. Mina’s own dark blue eyes were wide as they stared at her.

“Listen to me,” Haruka told the distraught eighteen-year-old. “You. Are. Enough.” She leaned in and kissed her brow, then smoothed the make-up away from Mina’s sailor symbol with her thumb. “Stop and see what I see when I look at you - or Rei, or Bunhead, or any of us: You are enough – as you are. You should always be enough.” She let go of Mina’s face then, and put her hands on the other girl’s shoulders. “You don’t have to tear yourself apart for your mother. It’s her that needs to love you better.”

As she spoke, Mina was shocked, not just by her words, but by her feelings. Haruka’s were those she could only ever feel when they flared up, she was normally so reserved.

 _She must be thinking of Hotaru,_ Mina realized, shaking as the seemingly boundless devotion filled her. It was so intense…

Faced with it, every illusion she’d ever built up about her mother’s love crumbled. In comparison, the feeling that always seemed tied to her mother’s pride, judgement, and expectations seemed heavy and cold by comparison.

(So floored was she by the disparity that it didn’t occur to Minako that Haruka might not have been thinking of Hotaru at all.)

Haruka was prepared for the tears. She wasn’t prepared for the sudden crash of Mina’s body against hers as the eighteen-year-old vaulted towards her, cinching her arms around Haruka’s neck and refusing to let go.

“She kicked me out,” Minako managed to say after sobbing for a few minutes into Haruka’s shoulder. “Or I guess I kicked myself out… I don’t know.” Mina sobbed again. “I just realized. When I got pulled over… I don’t have a home…”

Haruka felt her growing anger at Hikari Aino flare up exponentially, only managing to tamp down on the emotion when she realized it had made Mina tense.

 _She can’t go to the shrine,_ Haruka realized as she drew on every technique she’d ever learned raising Hotaru to try and calm Mina down. _Even if Rei would make her feel better, it’s the most public address we have. She shouldn’t be somewhere the cameras can hound her,_ Haruka decided. _She needs somewhere safe, where she can breathe._

As she held Mina, her phone buzzed in her pocket. And when she got it out and checked her messages, there was one from Michiru waiting.

Michiru: Suna says our answer is going to be yes. Could you tell me what the question is?

Haruka typed back a quick reply.

Haruka: Long as neither of u mind taking in a stray.

Michiru: Well we do technically have a guest room now.

When Haruka could hear only the lapping of waves against the rocks around them, she pulled away from Mina, getting out her handkerchief and passing it to her. As Mina wiped her face and began mumbling apologies, Haruka slid an arm around her shoulders, coaxing her back to her feet

“Come on,” she whispered, guiding Mina back towards the helicopter. Not once did Mina’s gaze leave the rocks under their feet. “Let’s go home.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

The penthouse lights were off when Haruka ushered Minako through the door, the sunset painting everything a pretty orange hue.

Though Mina barely registered the light, or where they were. She was biting her lip to try to keep another fit of tears from escaping.

 _She’s gonna lecture me soon,_ Mina sniffed. _For letting myself get stuck in this so long… God, how did I not see this as soon as our identities got leaked?_

_And now she’s had to bail me out and she feels…_

Angry. Haruka felt so, so angry underneath all the… it could have been sympathy or pity. _I bet it’s pity,_ Mina sulked as Haruka directed her to sit on the couch. _And she’s angry… and she’s got every right to be both._ Mina sniffed, tucking her legs underneath her and putting her head in her hands. Even in the low light, she had such a headache. _I let my mother drag me away from my duties so often… and even then I wasn’t ever going to be good enough for her._

I’ve been such an idiot…

She felt Haruka sink onto the couch beside her a few moments later, and nudge her with her elbow. When Mina looked at her, she was holding out a glass of water.

“Here,” Haruka said, watching Mina closely.

Mina downed half of it as she considered all Haruka’s emotions. Everything about her radiated concern. And anger. And frustration. And definitely pity.

 _How would she ever have sympathy for all the stupid things I’ve done lately_? Mina thought. _Better to bite the bullet now. I do deserve a lecture._

“I know you’re upset with me,” Mina whispered, staring into her half-empty water glass.

“I’m what?” Haruka frowned.

“I got… so caught up in this… and I should have been more rational,” Mina whispered, twisting the water glass between her hands. “I should have… thought it out more. I should have noticed she was the rat… Hell I should have known my own mother well enough to know she might do this. I never should have told her the tr –”

“Hold up,” Haruka said, leaning in and bracing her arms on her knees so she could look at Mina’s face. “You think I’m upset with you?”

Then Haruka’s eyes widened. _She can feel what I’m feeling right now…_ she realized. _Shit of course she’d…_

“You feel upset,” Mina muttered back. “Just… say what I need to hear. I can take it.”

Haruka sighed. “This is what she meant,” she muttered, recalling Michiru’s earlier warning. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

After a few moments, Mina frowned and looked over at her: all Haruka’s emotions had suddenly calmed, almost as though she’d put them behind a door and locked them up.

“What did you just do?” Mina wondered.

Haruka shrugged, “Just reined things in a bit. Sorry,” she said. “I’ll try to be a bit calmer. You don’t need to feel what I am on top of what you are.”

“But you should be upset with me. You absolutely should. After all, I –”

“I’m upset with your mother,” Haruka cut in. “She’s the one I’d like to give a piece of my mind to.”

“But…” Minako sputtered. “But I still kept ignoring everything all of you said to me – even when I agreed with you. I deserve a lecture.”

“You’re doing a good enough job of giving yourself one,” Haruka said. She sighed. “Believe it or not, I understand. It doesn’t matter how smart, or strong, or independent you think you are,” she said. “Everything’s different when it’s your parents.”

Mina tilted her head at Haruka. “Your parents?”

“Were the same way about different things,” Haruka told her. “They loved me – that was always obvious to me.” She crossed her arms over her chest and began bouncing her foot as she glanced out the doors of the balcony. “But they had a very narrow idea of who they wanted me to be. They didn’t like that I tried to wear the boys uniform to school instead of the girls’, They never let me cut my hair the way I really wanted it – you know it passed my shoulders in middle school.”

“That’s impossible,” Mina whispered. “You wouldn’t look like… you.”

“I didn’t – and for the longest time I didn’t feel like me either,” Haruka sighed. “But it was also years before I put up much of a fight about it. I just… found ways to be myself in secret. I joined the track team and told my parents that I’d signed up to an extra study hour. And I used to sneak off campus at lunch and go down to the racetrack just to get a glimpse of the cars.” She shook her head. “They loved me, but they loved a very narrow idea of me. And it wasn’t even that the me they loved was foreign to me… it was just only part of who I was. And being forced to act that way all the time… I loved dancing and I loved playing the piano and I even loved dresses every once in a while, but being forced to love those things every day and try to pretend the other things I loved didn’t exist… that was exhausting.”

Mina nodded. “I used to love acting,” Mina whispered. “And singing… and dancing. But mom puts so much pressure on me to make them my whole life… and Dad always takes her side. I forget why I loved them at all.”

“That happens,” Haruka said, watching Mina closely. “I got a lucky break when I was 14. I managed to sneak down to the track when there was no one around and they’d left one of the cars out with the keys…” she smiled, remembering. “I felt so free… didn’t even register how fast I’d gone. But the car’s owner did. And he didn’t care one bit if I were a girl or a boy or even that I was underage. He cared that I could win. And he helped convince me it was something I was meant to do… regardless of what my parents thought.”

“By that point,” Haruka continued, Mina hanging on her every word. “My parents, had had it with all the trouble I was causing them, ditching school, to say nothing for some of the fights I was getting into because I was so frustrated and confused about who I was…” she looked at Mina. “They gave me a choice – What I wanted or them – and I’d never felt so free as I had in that car. So I left.”

“And what happened?” Mina wondered.

Haruka shrugged. “I lived. I tried to figure out who I was when there were no rules to say who I had to be – I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be a girl for the longest time, at least not my parents version of one. That’s largely why I was going as a boy so much when we met – I’d never been allowed to explore that side of myself before – I was still revelling in it.”

“But you like dresses and stuff now.”

“Eventually I liked them again,” Haruka said, “Once I’d been able to be myself long enough to really figure out what I liked, not what my parents liked… It was a whole year after I got out before I even considered wearing a dress again.” She nodded at Mina. “So if you really do like acting as just you – and music and all the rest, you’ll figure it out. You just might need to take a break from them first.”

“Did you ever go back?” Mina asked.

“Once…” Haruka sighed. “After the Death Busters… My mother’d seen the explosion at Mugen and I had a message from her when I finally got home. Turned out she’d kept tabs on where I was going to school.” Haruka shook her head. “They were doing well… but they still didn’t understand that the version of my they loved wasn’t really who I was. And all they wanted was for me to realize they’d been right. So I left. I haven’t been back.” She looked at Mina. “You’re going to want to – don’t. Not right away. Give yourself some time to focus on the rest of your life.”

“Or you might never want to,” Michiru said softly as she padded into the room, two cups of tea in hand. She passed one to Haruka. “You don’t have to go back and see them again at all – and you don’t need to feel guilty if that’s your choice – what do you like on your pizza?”

“Everything,” Mina frowned. “Wait, why?”

“Because Setsuna needed to know,” Michiru said, settling down on the opposite couch. Mina immediately knew where Haruka’d learned to push back her emotions from. She strained so hard to read Michiru’s it gave her a new headache.

“So you left your parents too?” Mina asked, taking another drink of her water.

“You could say that,” Michiru said, sipping her tea. “They never were the most progressive of people – and they enjoyed the idea of climbing the social status ladder far too much. So when it came out that I wasn’t exactly looking at all the rich boys with the right eye, they gave me quite the lecture on how I was expected to behave, and who I most certainly wasn’t allowed to like.” Michiru shrugged. “I told them in no uncertain terms that just wasn’t going to work and so we reached an agreement of sorts. They knew I wanted independence so they said I could live on my own – On their dime of course, and if I set one toe out of line, they made it clear that money would be gone in a blink. They thought that would teach me to behave – and they assumed after a while, I’d tire of only having a limited amount of money to live on and I’d acquiesce to their vision of the perfect society daughter.”

“That sounds like Rei’s father,” Mina scowled.

“They are much the same,” Michiru agreed. “In any case, I turned their plan on its head in a manner of speaking. They hadn’t considered that I was good at math, nor had they accounted for my particular kind of luck making predictions at the stock market.”

“She was a psychic badass,” Haruka grinned.

“I was smart,” Michiru retorted. “And I worked hard. Between that, and my painting, and my concerts, I was completely independent of them by the time I was sixteen. I haven’t heard from them since. I haven’t wanted to.”

“Did you love them?” Mina asked.

“I loved my father,” Michiru answered, then shook her head. “But love is never a reason to give up your happiness, no matter how much it weighs on you.”

Mina nodded and leaned into Haruka. She closed her eyes. Today had been exhausting.

“My phone’s at home,” she whispered. “And my clothes – And my license is there – Oh!” she straightened up, biting her lip as she looked at Haruka. “You said the car… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Haruka shrugged. “I’ll pick up the car tomorrow. And as for your stuff…”

“We’ll sort it out,” Michiru grinned, looking over her shoulder as the front door clicked open.

“After dinner,” Setsuna announced, walking into the room with two steaming boxes under her arm. She was not nearly so practiced at masking how she felt, which meant Mina was blushing and fighting the urge to grin the second Setsuna looked at Haruka and Michiru.

Setsuna walked up to them, Haruka jumping up to greet her with a kiss. When she settled back on the couch, Setsuna was smiling. She turned to Mina, raising an eyebrow at her. “Since you couldn’t be more specific than ‘everything’, you can share the vegetable one,” she said, dropping the larger box into Mina’s arms. “And,” she turned and raised her eyebrows at Michiru. “Sardines and pineapples?”

“Can’t I enjoy my favorite things?” Michiru retorted as Setsuna walked over to her. She grabbed the small pizza box as she kissed Setsuna, pulling her down to sit beside her.

“On the… same pizza?” Haruka wrinkled her nose.

“This coming from the woman who once drank eggs out of a blender,” Michiru shot back.

“Ewww!” Mina scowled as she took a slice of pizza from Haruka.

“Hey – that was to help me win the race,” Haruka protested, passing the pizza box to Setsuna

“Did it work?” Setsuna wondered.

“Yes!” Haruka grinned.

“She’s never tried it since,” Michiru added in a sing-song voice.

Mina snickered behind her hand, the first actual laugh Haruka’d heard out of her that day.

“You’re guilty of a fair few strange things yourself,” Haruka said, looking to Setsuna. “Help me out – weirdest thing she’s ever done.”

“Besides mix sardines with pineapples,” Setsuna smirked.

By the time they’d finished dinner, they’d managed to get Minako into a much better mood, and Haruka’d nonchalantly informed her that they had a guest room she was going to take whether she thought it was too much to ask of them or not.

“I believe there’s extra toothbrushes around here somewhere,” Haruka said once she’d shown Mina to her room.

Once she’d found one, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, and called a number she rarely ever used.

 _“Haruka?”_ Rei asked when she picked up her phone.

“Hey,” she said, walking back to Mina’s room. She was sitting on her new bed staring out the window. “I need your help with something.”

 _“Is it the enemy?_ ” Rei asked.

“Nothing like that,” Haruka said as Mina turned to look at her. Haruka grinned and said to Rei: “I have someone of yours here who’s had quite a bad day – she’s even forgotten her phone of all the silly things to do.” Mina’s eyes widened when she realized whom Haruka was talking to. “Anyways – I’m pretty sure she’d like nothing better than to talk to you.” She passed the phone down to Mina who snatched it quickly.

“Rei!” Mina gasped as she held the phone close to her ear. “Hi…”

 _She’ll be fine,_ Haruka thought as she slipped out of the room, Michiru and Setsuna were waiting in the hall.

“Surprised you’re not asleep yet,” Haruka said to Michiru. She’d been turning in as early as 9:30 or 10:00 of late. A change in routine that Haruka and Setsuna still couldn’t quite accept as normal behavior. Though bringing it up to Michiru never did any good. She’d insisted she was only getting the flu for near on a week-and-a-half.

“Well, I did nap through most of the day.” Michiru shrugged. “The flu’s finally caught up to me I think.”

“And yet you had sardine-and-pineapple pizza for dinner,” Setsuna muttered.

“If you’re thinking what I eat is affecting whatever’s wrong with my future then you two really are getting paranoid,” Michiru said. “I am fine – I promise. Now back to Mina.”

“She’ll be staying a while,” Setsuna said. “Near as I can tell.”

“Good.” Haruka nodded. “She needs time to get her head on straight.”

“As for her mother...” Setsuna shook her head. “She might still be a problem… though I’m unsure of what kind.”

“Hmmm.” Michiru frowned, pulling out the Aqua Mirror, she squinted at it and ran her hand across her forehead. “Stupid hair,” she muttered under her breath

Haruka and Setsuna traded glances. “Your hair’s not in your face, Michiru.”

“I keep thinking that, and then it gets in the way at the most inconvenient times,” Michiru lamented, gazing into the mirror. “Now, Hikari…” she smiled once she’d seen what she needed to. “She doesn't actually know Chibiusa’s identity,” Michiru told them.

“One less thing to worry about,” Setsuna said.

“Setsuna’s still safe,” Michiru continued “And it appears Souichi will be able to keep her from revealing Hotaru for a while yet,” Michiru said.

“Does that mean we have to let the two of them keep talking?” Haruka scowled.

“Unfortunately… yes.”

_~Á Suivre~_


	14. Symptoms Indicative of a Positive Result

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bring on the pitchforks!  
> (still not mine).
> 
> I also just wanna state, for the record, that Hippolyte said exactly why someone's future could disappear in chapter 9.

**Symptoms Indicative of a Postive Result**

**VENUS GOES ROGUE**

_Tuesday, April 22nd_

_Following the return of Sailor Venus and Mars from their mysterious vacation (which the senshi have stated was actually a recovery period for Mars after a difficult battle), it seems that tensions are running high between Venus and her family. Neighbors report hearing Venus arguing with Aino Hikari (her mother) shortly before the girl sped off at twice the speed limit permitted in a residential area. When she was pulled over (and found to be driving without proper identification) Venus then proceeded to resist arrest, abandoning her car on the side of the motorway and flying out to sea._

_The officer reports she was untransformed at the time. It is still unclear how she maintained her wings in her human form. Venus has not been seen since, though an as-yet-unidentified helicopter was seen heading off in the direction she disappeared in._

_The Senshi have declined to comment. But when interviewed, the Ainos had this to say:_

_“The Venus who returned made it clear that she had no interest in pretending to be my Minako anymore,” a tearful Aino Hikari informed us. “My family is devastated.”_

**VENUS RETURN RAISES QUESTIONS**

_Wednesday, April 23rd_

_A picture from a security camera has clearly shown Venus, in her untransformed state as Aino Minako, with wings that eye witnesses confirm do, in fact, seem to be attached to her body. This is markedly different from everything we know about Sailor Moon’s wings (the only other senshi known to have them)._

_Venus was also reported to have sped away from her house in a rage yesterday, and subsequently disappeared following an altercation with the Tokyo Police._

_Everyone is wondering what’s happened to make the darling of the senshi have such a change in attitude._

_It should be noted that, while little is known about the Senshi's past or current enemies, the Ainos have publically ascribed to the theory that they target the senshi specifically, while the senshi market themselves as being the guardians of Earth (which would apparently be in danger from these forces with or without them)._

_There is evidence to support both sides. We wonder whether this difference in opinion is the cause of Venus irate departure from the Ainos’ home, or if something larger is going on._

_For their part, the Ainos are distraught. “I just want Minako back,” Aino Hikari told us._

_We reached out to Venus via her twitter handle @actualSailorV we have yet to receive a response._

“So,” Sailor Jupiter said to Venus as the four inner senshi stood in the storeroom of Juuban’s second largest supermarket, guarding Sailor Moon as she held the glowing Silver Crystal out in front of her. “You’ve been living with them for two days; spill.”

Venus smirked, keeping one eye on the storeroom door and the other on Sailor Moon as she began the work of growing another crystal point out of the concrete floor. “Well,” she said, “It’s… not as awkward as I thought it would be. Like it was still really strange the first morning when I woke up and wasn’t sure if I could make coffee or which plates to use – I don’t think they own anything that isn’t fine china.”

It wasn’t just the china either. Her room was bigger than she and Kara’s at the Ainos’ put together. She had her own bathroom with its own bathtub. She had a door out onto one of the Penthouse three balconies. And while she’d only peaked in, there’d definitely been a chandelier in the music room.

“I think,” Mercury said as she scanned their surroundings with her visor. ( _Is her palm-top still broken?_ Venus thought.) “That Jupiter meant ‘what do they do when they’re at home being themselves.’”

“Exactly,” Jupiter said, hitting her hammer against her palm. “Like: do they watch TV? Do they read? Do they argue? Are they messy?”

“Have you walked in on them yet?” Mars teased.

“No!” Venus said, blushing to the roots of her hair.

“Really?” Jupiter raised her eyebrows. “I did not imagine those three being subtle.”

“Guys!” Venus groaned. “No, I have not walked in on them.” Though she had gotten bombarded by way more of Setsuna and Haruka’s emotions than she’d ever wanted to.

There was a flash from the center of their circle and they all directed their attention fully to Sailor Moon. The point of the new Crystal Pillar was now shining through the concrete floor.

Sailor Moon’s brow was furrowed, Venus noted. But she wasn’t sweating or pale and her arms weren’t shaking. _I’ll leave her to it a while longer then_.

“They’re really laid back,” Venus told the other inner senshi. “Haruka reads, which I’d never have guessed.”

“What sorts of books?” Mercury wondered.

“I mean I didn’t look – I didn’t really wanna bother her. And so far I think Michiru’s the messiest.”

“Really?” Mars and Jupiter exclaimed.

“Well relatively speaking,” Venus chuckled. “Not like Usagi… or me. I’ve only been there for three days – I think I’m still processing everything.”

She hadn’t even left the apartment the first day. She’d tried to. She’d been neglecting Makoto and the bakery big time.

But Haruka’d intercepted her well before she got to the door

“You can give yourself one day off,” she’d said. “One day. Then tomorrow, see if you want to brave the cameras.”

It had been insanely hard: trying to do nothing. She’d reorganized all the furniture in her room, then put it back when she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to move it. She’d paced across the balcony outside her room and the one outside the living room. She’d opened and closed every cabinet in the kitchen. After a few hours, Setsuna’d taken pity on her and let her help guard the Time Dimension (a time during which she’d been afraid of annoying Pluto with her questions and yet never felt even a hint of irritation from her. Mild amusement, sure. But nothing else. It had even felt like Pluto enjoyed the company).

“You’re in Setsuna’s old room, right?” Mercury asked.

“Yes – that is weird. All the walls look like the Time Dimension. It’s kinda creepy as hell,” Mina sighed. “If only I could give it a make-over.”

“Who said you couldn’t?” Jupiter shrugged.

“You should just ask,” Mars added. “Haruka’d probably say yes – I mean she did go out and get all your stuff for you.”

 _And_ I’ve _a sneaking suspicion you did too,_ Venus thought. Rei’d come over the Penthouse at the end of her first whole day there. And she’d stayed the night. When she’d woken up, all her clothes had been in six bags outside her door along with six more bags worth of her stuff. Furthermore, Rei and Haruka’d already been awake, drinking coffee together (which Rei never did) and Artemis had somehow shown up in the night because he was lounging across Rei’s shoulders. All three of them had felt smug and mischievous.

 _“How’d you get all of that past my mother?”_ Mina’d exclaimed to Haruka.

 _“Eh.”_ Haruka’d shrugged. _“She’s not the most observant person.”_

And they’d all refused to comment further.

“Maybe she’d let me paint it.” Venus shrugged. “It doesn’t exactly feel like a good time to bring it up, though. I mean with the new enemy. And Hotaru’s situation.”

“How are they coping with her living with her Dad?” Jupiter asked. “Souichi’s alright, right? Do they get along?”

“It must be awful for Hotaru if they don’t,” Mercury worried.

 _If only they knew he had her communicator_ , Venus thought. Pluto’d brought it up to her the very first day.

 _“I’m aware that he has it,_ ” Pluto had said. _“It was an unfortunate choice on his part. I want you to refrain from telling Hotaru.”_

“ _Why?”_

 _“Because Souichi Tomoe is not out of chances yet,”_ Pluto’d told her. “ _And it will be better for him and Hotaru in the future if they can rebuild their relationship now. This enemy has… complicated that_.” She’d shaken her head, and Venus had held back her protests due to the sheer amount of pity and compassion that’d flooded out of Pluto. “ _Keeping her out of battle can hardly hurt her. And we have other ways of reaching her if we’re desperate,”_ Pluto’d continued. _“So I’d like you to refrain from telling anyone that Souichi has stolen the communicator. There’s still a high likelihood that he will give it back to Hotaru of his own accord… but if she discovers it before that point..._ ” Pluto’d stared out into the depths of the Time Dimension. “ _There’d be no chance for him to have a place in her life again. Not even I’d be able to convince her to change her mind._ ”

Venus sighed. “They get along… it’s a work in progress.” She shrugged. “I dunno. The house has been pretty quiet since I moved in. Setsuna’s always busy. And Haruka and Michiru are usually out… Not to mention Michiru’s been sick. So even when they’re all home, it’s not like they do much.”

“How long’s she been sick?” Mercury frowned. “I thought she said she only had the flu.”

“Dunno. And she says it's the flu, but I’m calling bullshit,” Venus whispered, freezing when she heard a sound from outside. Whoever it was passed the building without opening the back door. Venus sighed and carried on, saying: “no normal flu would make Setsuna as frustrated and unsettled as she’s feeling about it.” Venus shook her head. “It’s literally the only thing they’ve argued about since I got there.”

“Do you think it’s related to the enemy?” Mercury asked.

“Probably,” Venus said.

Sailor Moon, Venus noted, had just clenched her jaw from the effort of growing the Crystal Point. Her eyes were closed now, and sweat was starting to roll down her face.

“Alright,” Venus said. She nodded to Mars, who walked up to Sailor Moon and put her hands on her shoulders. “Let’s take a break for tonight.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Haruka’d never understood how anyone could hate mornings. Waking up with the sun was a good start to any day in her book. Sure, it meant she didn’t get nearly as much sleep as one was supposed to, but that was the whole point of coffee.

Dawn had the best view from the balcony, or the helicopter, after all. And early morning was the quietest time to run. Not to mention, it was the best excuse to cuddle with her girlfriends before they woke up.

So she knew something was up when she turned over, looking for Michiru and Setsuna, but found only empty sheets.

Then she heard the retching.

"Again?" she murmured, immediately up from bed.

The past week, Michiru'd been on and off sick. The flu, she kept insisting, though if that was the case, it was the strangest flu Haruka’d ever encountered. It seemed to come and go as it pleased, much to Michiru’s frustration.

Haruka knocked lightly on the door of the master bath.

"Come in," Setsuna called at the same time as a miserable voice groaned: "go away."

She'd already pushed through the door, though. "Michi..."

"I'm gross; go back to bed,” Michiru said. Her head was pillowed on her arms as she leaned over the toilet.

"Setsuna's here."

"She's not happy about that either," Setsuna murmured as she filled a cup from the tap and then knelt next to Michiru to offer it to her

"I keep telling you; you might catch it," Michiru protested, though she grabbed the water and sipped carefully, spitting into the toilet bowl. "I hate this."

"We know," Haruka sighed and knelt down on her other side. Michiru relaxed as Haruka began to rub her back. Haruka looked at Setsuna, "Are we sure this is the flu?”

“I swear if you two keep asking that, you’re both sleeping on the couch,” Michiru snapped. Hesitantly, she pulled herself away from the toilet, sighing when nothing felt amiss, and promptly leaned back into Haruka’s arms.

“Well if I had a better theory about what was related to your future, I would drop it,” Setsuna said, putting her hand on Michiru’s forehead. She cursed. “Still no fever.”

"Isn’t that good?" Haruka asked.

"No, because if she had the flu, she should have gotten a fever by now." Setsuna combed Michiru’s hair. "Are you alright to move back to bed?"

"Maybe. I do have a couple hours.” Michiru sighed. “Why does there have to be rehearsal today?”

“Surely you could call in sick?” Setsuna worried, but Haruka was shaking her head.

“No,” Michiru said, scowling “No one skips rehearsal unless they’re in the hospital. Everyone else can practice with this flu – so can I.”

“Hence why she has it in the first place,” Haruka muttered.

“You can still rest a few hours,” Setsuna said. “Go lie down, I’ll bring you toast.”

"No," Michiru groaned; just the thought made her nauseous.

"At least crackers, then."

"No."

"Love," Setsuna said firmly. "You barely had anything yesterday either: you need food."  
Michiru closed her eyes and thought. "If they were chocolate and ginger cookies that might be okay…"

Setsuna and Haruka traded glances over her head. Setsuna frowned and raised one of her eyebrows. Haruka shrugged.

"Whatever you want," Haruka assured Michiru.

"I'll pop out and get some," Setsuna said.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

_To: Mizuno Ami_

_From: IT@u-tokyo.ac.jp_

_Subject: Service Alert_

_Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff_

_We have detected a dangerous malware program which has breached the university servers. We are working hard to clean our systems._

_Please report any and all service interruptions you encounter while using the University’s website or computers in order to help our IT department._

_We would like to remind all university associates at this time to please be careful of any suspicious emails found in your inbox, especially while using the university network._

_We apologize for the inconvenience._

_Thank you,_

_The IT Department,_

_University of Tokyo_

There hadn’t been a sunspot attack in three days. And while Ami was less than relaxed about that, it did give her time for a task she’d, unfortunately, had to bump from her to-do list numerous times over the past few weeks.

Ami bit her lip as she tinkered with the fried inside of the Mercury palm-top. She’d never had to think about repairing the parts inside. And while the wiring would be easy enough to fix, some of the memory and processors inside the computer were still giving her trouble.

 _Technologically speaking it’s very much like Lunar Command’s design_ , Ami thought as she fitted her own processor into the place where she’d just removed a fried one. _Just a few decades more advanced and about a thousand times smaller…_

Just then her phone rang. She ignored it at first, carefully fitting the piece into place.

She hit the power button on the palm-top and sighed: still nothing.

Her phone rang again and she reached for it, smiling when she saw the screen.

“Hi Daichi,” she said.

“Ami!” he exclaimed. “Thank god you answered – look I’m really sorry.”

“About what?”

“When you left the café during the fight last weekend – remember I gave you back your purse?”

“Yes,”

“Well see, I accidentally mixed up your USB with mine. They look the same – I didn’t even notice until I plugged it in and realized it had twice as much memory as mine – how did you ever get it to hold 100?”

 _He plugged it in… oh no!_ Ami realized. _That had everything on the hard-drive… including that malware on it._

“Daichi, listen – there was a very serious malware on that USB. I was working on a program to neutralize it – oh I’m so sorry! Your computer might be ruined by this?”

“Malware?” Daichi said. “I didn’t notice. Lemme look… yeah, my computer’s fine.”

“What?”

“Well, I have this program I designed for my own computer to combat viruses – that probably stopped it.”

“How!” Ami exclaimed.

“Hey, I’m a genius too, yah know. Gotta be to keep up with you.”

“I…just… you neutralized it?” Ami stammered.

“Yeah, why, you need it?

“Can you upload the program to the USB before you bring it over?” Ami asked.

“I’m free tomorrow morning, I sure can. Is this helping with your saving the world gig?”

She grinned. Finally, she’d be able to get some answers from the Mercury hard-drive. “It just might!”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

“Ginger and chocolate cookies,” Setsuna complained as she scanned the aisles. “Ginger cookies – fine. Chocolate cookies – fine. Ginger and chocolate…” The supermarket hadn’t stocked them. The three specialty shops she’d checked hadn’t stocked them. The time doors were not equipped to answer her query about such an item’s location. Finally, she’d caved and checked the internet. And was now in her fifth store and an entirely different country.

Thus she found herself wandering the third aisle of cookie-based products muttering under her breath and swearing every time she saw ginger, but not chocolate; chocolate, but not ginger…

“At this rate, I’d do better the try making them myself,” she said aloud. “Why of all things to want when you’re sick do you pick chocolate and,”

“Excuse me,” someone said behind her. She turned and saw a young man holding out a package with a smile on his face. “I think you were looking for these.”

“Yes!” She grinned and thanked him profusely.

“No problem, you missed them; they were on the bottom shelf.”

“Of course they were,” Setsuna muttered, shaking her head. “Thank you,”

“Oh, no problem. I’ve been there,” he grinned. “My girlfriend sent me out for the strangest things when she was pregnant. Had to drive into the city a fair few times.”

“Uh,” Setsuna stammered.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’ll both laugh about it later.” And he waved at someone behind her. “Anyways, good luck,” and with one more wave he moved on while she stared after him, remembering to wave her hand only after he had passed.

Setsuna looked at the cookies in her hand.

 _That is… ridiculous,_ she shook her head as she carried on down the aisle. “Impossible,” she muttered. She exited the aisle and turned in the direction of the registers. “That would not be the reason for her whole future to…”

 _But do I know that?_ she thought. _Do I know that for sure?_

She had spent eons gazing through time at the whole of existence and had even devoted a fair bit of time to the progression of humanity. She had spent the blink of an eye, in comparison, tracking the futures of specific individuals.

_It is so ordinary! How could it possibly affect a future that drastically…_

When Chibiusa’d been young, her whole future had been a hazy mess of fog and sand. And it was clearing gradually as she aged, especially since her journey to the past. She’d seen the same thing with Hotaru, and determined in time that perhaps that was the nature of children, who were young enough that innumerable fates and futures still lay at their feet.

_I suppose for a child that hasn’t even been born… the possibilities would be nearly infinite… It’s not unfathomable that it could affect their mother’s future in the same way for that timeframe at least…_

“It’s still insane,” Setsuna muttered. “Completely, ridiculously…”

She caught sight of something as she neared the registers: a whole shelf of tests in various blue, pink, and white packages. And she stopped in front of them, staring for a long while at the plus signs and smiles shown on the examples.

_Could it really be so… mundane?_

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Haruka and Michiru looked away from the news as soon as the telltale lavender light appeared in the coatroom. Setsuna walked in as it faded and Michiru lifted her head from Haruka’s shoulder and sat up when she noticed the shopping bag in Setsuna’s hand.

“You found them!” Michiru said, eyes lighting up as Setsuna pulled the package of cookies out of the bag.

“Of course,” she said, bending down and kissing Michiru. “They were easy to find.”

“Is that why you were gone an hour?” Haruka asked, gesturing to the empty space beside her.

But after greeting her with a kiss, Setsuna opted not to take the offered seat. Haruka frowned when she sat down on the coffee table in front of them instead, putting the shopping bag slightly behind her. Was there something else in it?

Setsuna sighed, leaning forwards and clasping her hands together as she looked between the two of them, gaze lingering on Michiru, who’d made quick work of the cookies’ packaging.

“I have a theory about what’s happening to you,” she told Michiru.

Both Haruka and Michiru sat up straighter. Haruka whipped out her phone and the TV behind Setsuna was silent in an instant.

“What is it,” Michiru asked as she and Haruka leaned in towards Setsuna.

Setsuna shook her head, looking down at her hands. “I don’t want to tell you until I’m sure. It’s highly implausible.” Setsuna looked up at them. “I need Michiru to prove my theory.”

“You’re being cryptic on purpose,” Michiru accused, eating another of her cookies.

“And if I’m wrong you’ll only thank me for being so,” Setsuna countered. She looked down at her hands again, took a deep breath, and then looked back up at Michiru, moving her arms so that her elbows were propped up on her knees and her head rested on her hands, laced together under her chin. “Let’s assume, for a moment,” she said to Michiru, “that you don’t have the flu.”

“Not this again,” Michiru rolled her eyes.

“Michi,” Setsuna said as she stared at her. “Humor me.”

Michiru shook her head. “Fine,” she said, taking a bite from a third cookie.

Setsuna smiled. “Okay. How long have you felt sick?”

“About a week.”

“Alright… Are there any times it’s worse than others?”

Michiru looked up as she considered. “Mornings, obviously – whenever things smell bad, it doesn’t exactly help.”

Setsuna raised her eyebrows. _That might be something…_ “And does anything smell bad… that you’d say doesn’t usually?”

“This is to prove your theory?” Haruka asked.

“Laundry detergent,” Michiru responded at the same time.

Haruka’s eyebrows shot up as she and Setsuna both focused on Michiru.

“But, Setsuna, I swear that’s just because I’m already sick.”

“Still assuming you’re not. Anything else?”

Michiru sighed. “Vanilla tea,” she carried on. And Haruka frowned as Michiru began ticking off things on her fingers. “Oil paint, my violin polish, wine, a lot of the leftovers.”

“I knew they weren’t going bad!” Haruka exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell us this?”

“This seemed entirely unimportant,” Michiru retorted.

“Hush,” Setsuna ordered them both. “Next question: Have you noticed anything different when you transform?”

“I’m more tired afterward,” Michiru said. “But we knew that… otherwise, no. My attacks are as strong as they’ve ever been. But…”

“But?” Setsuna asked.

“The Aqua Mirror has been acting up lately,” Michiru confessed. “At least in relation to this. I’ve asked it what’s wrong with my future before. But it just stays on the first thing I always see when I glance at it now.”

“Which is?” Setsuna asked.

“Well when my hair isn’t getting in the way, it’s Haruka’s eyes,” Michiru said.

“I swear she’s imagining her hair being in her face,” Haruka added.

“I am not!” Michiru said, glaring at her.

Setsuna though was stuck on something else. She muttered under her breath. “Haruka’s eyes and your… _oh!_ ” She bit her lip to stifle her smile.

“What?” Haruka and Michiru asked, leaning closer to her.

Setsuna shook her head. “My theory’s not as implausible as I believed in that case… I’m still unsure how it could have happened… unless.”

“What?” they asked again.

“I could have overlooked... that event,” Setsuna was muttering to herself. “No I almost certainly did.”

“When you’re done being lost in time,” Michiru prompted.

“Sorry,” Setsuna shook her head, looking at them both seriously. “It is possible that what’s happening to Michiru was caused by a magical point when we visited our homeworlds.”

The two of them nodded, frowning at her.

“The magical points,” Setsuna continued. “Are capable of astonishing magic. And they can have even more… dramatic effects when their sailor senshi is involved. It’s likely that one or both of you did something there – when you were both together on Uranus – that caused a reaction.”

“The room glowed!” Haruka realized.

“The one on Neptune did as well when I awakened it,” Michiru said.

“But don’t you remember – it glowed a lot brighter after we… uh…” Haruka predictably turned bright red.

“I didn’t notice, actually,” Michiru carried on, smirking at Haruka. “I was much too distracted by a very sexy Sailor Uranus.”

Setsuna nodded. “I am guilty of not noticing earlier, as at the time I tried not to spy too closely at those moments between the two of you… but yes, I would say that if the entire room of crystals glowed, you certainly caused a reaction.”

Haruka groaned, running a hand through her hair. “I bet that sort of thing was frowned upon in the past… do you think the magical point was a holy place?” she asked, wide-eyed, one hand pulling at her hair. “Did we disrespect it… has it cursed Michiru?”

“That would depend,” Setsuna said to Haruka. “Were you able to connect with your planet at all? Perhaps feel its emotions?”

“Yes.”

“And did Uranus feel angry?” Setsuna asked.

“No!” Haruka said with a quick shake of her head. “No – it felt happy! Like I was feeling just a thousand times more. Oh God: I didn’t realize it was doing magic. All I wanted was to make something happy happen there and now it’s gone and –”

“Hold up,” Setsuna said, raising her hand palm out. “What did you just say?”

“I didn’t… realize it was doing magic?”

“After that,” Setsuna said, staring at Haruka as she fit in the final piece of the puzzle.

“I wanted to make something happy happen?”

“Did you think that?” Setsuna said. “Actively? While you and Michiru were together there?”

“I suppose so?” Haruka whispered.

“She definitely said something like it at least once,” Michiru said.

“But I don’t understand?” Haruka frowned. “Why would that… cause a reaction… that hurt Michiru?”

“I don’t believe the planet was trying to hurt her,” Setsuna said, shifting her gaze back to Michiru. She’d set aside the cookies at some point and her hands were resting in front of her. Setsuna reached out to clasp them both as Michiru met her eyes. “I think the planet was in a very volatile state, certainly excited at having such an integral piece of its magic reawakened after a thousand years. I believe it tried to act upon your wish to make something happy a bit too literally.”

“So… what’s wrong with me?” Michiru asked.

“Nothing’s… wrong exactly.” Setsuna closed her eyes and took a deep breath, squeezing Michiru’s hands. “Michiru,” she said. “You’re late, aren’t you?”

She heard Haruka gasp as Michiru tilted her head in thought. “Late…?” Then her eyes widened and she released Setsuna’s hands, covering her face as a burst of laughter escaped from her. “You think I’m,”

“She is late,” Haruka cut in.

“No,” Michiru shot back. “What I am is irregular. Besides stress always throws my cycle off, and I’ve had no shortage of that lately.”

“And has it ever skipped two whole months before,” Setsuna said, raising one eyebrow.

“Well no, but.” Michiru’s laughter trailed off as she shook her head, still smiling at Setsuna. “That… can’t possibly… I mean it’s ridiculous.”

Setsuna shrugged. “Nor is it unprecedented. Mina was created by her planet’s magical point in her first life. And it’s a known fact that the Moon’s Crystal Obelisk played a role in Serenity’s creation.”

“But I still don’t think,”

“Very few things actually enhance your sense of smell, Michiru,” Setsuna told her gently.

“I still think you’re wrong.”

Setsuna sighed, turned, and reached into the shopping bag behind her.

“I could be wrong,” she said. “This could help us know for sure.”

And she opened her hand between them, holding the pregnancy test out to Michiru.

Michiru met her gaze for a long moment before sighing and snatching the test from Setsuna’s palm.

“I swear it’s going to be negative,” Michiru said, rising from the couch and walking quickly out of the living room.

When she’d gone, Setsuna turned all her attention back to Haruka, who sat with her head bowed, furiously wringing her hands in front of her.

“Haruka?” Setsuna asked after a few minutes.

“This is my fault,” Haruka muttered.

“No,” Setsuna rushed to say. “If anything it’s both your faults… or no one’s.” She reached out and covered Haruka’s hands with hers. “I could still be wrong.”

“But… you’re probably right,” Haruka whispered looking up at her. “And… this would explain her future… disappearing?”

“I did enough research shortly before I got home to say it is possible,” Setsuna shook her head. “And now I find I’m kicking myself for not bothering with such trivial, mortal events before.”

“You’re only human,” Haruka teased, a small smile on her lips. But it was gone a moment later. “This is terrible timing,” she whispered. “All I want to feel is happy and I can’t because –”

They looked towards the main hallway suddenly as they heard a door click, and both sighed when Minako, not Michiru, shuffled into the kitchen shortly after, yawning and then waving at them on her way to the coffee machine.

“Morning,” she said yawning again. She glanced at the two of them and frowned. “Is Michiru still sick?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Setsuna said.

“Well... that’s cryptic.” Mina yawned again, glaring at the coffee maker. “Come on please,” she begged, bouncing up on her feet and rubbing her hand over her eyes. “Make the coffee… make the coffee.”

“Did you remember to put water in it first?” Setsuna asked.

“I… oh,” they both watched Mina duck away to hide the blush on her face. “I am tired, okay. We had a late mission last night.”

“It’s fine,” Haruka said immediately. “Don’t worry about it.”

Setsuna watched as Mina did a double take.

“What… no sassy remark?” Mina asked, moving to the kitchen doorway and leaning against it. “What happened… why does Haruka feel terrified?”

“A number of reasons,” Setsuna said.

“This doesn’t explain the hair thing?” Haruka said, thoughts still on Michiru.

“I think it would actually,” Setsuna replied. “You’re most likely right – Michiru’s hair hasn’t been in her face. I believe the mirror is simply showing her something she’s not ready to see ye –”

But Mina interrupted her. “Michiru?” she called as she whirled around and watched Michiru pass the kitchen, getting slammed by her emotions as she walked quickly past. It was such a mess of them from someone normally too composed for her to read that Mina put a hand to her forehead to soothe the headache and walked out into the living room.

Then Michiru appeared from the hallway, staring at something in her hands.

“Michiru,” Setsuna said as she and Haruka stood.

“I…” Michiru looked up at them, and then back at what was in her hands. And then at the two of them again. “I’m uh…” She looked towards the coatroom as Setsuna and Haruka moved towards her.

“Michi,” Haruka said softly, reaching for her.

Michiru shook her head. The test in her hand fell onto the floor. “I… I need to think.”

“Michiru!” they both said, running after her.

But she had already bolted to the coatroom. “I’ll be back later!” she called.

Setsuna and Haruka made it to the threshold of the room just in time to see Michiru slam the front door.

“What happened?” Mina asked.

Haruka and Setsuna looked at each other, and then back at the test strip on the floor.

In the results window of the plastic strip was a tiny, blue plus sign.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

_She gasped as she took in the bright lights all around her: every shade and color of the rainbow._

_“Hello!” she called into the dark space, reaching out for a larger, orange light, so similar to Venus…_

_She’d been venturing further and further into the vacuum of darkness each time she was here, no matter how unsettled or cold or even frightened she felt when she woke._

_She had an idea who these lights could be. And perhaps, if she could reach them, she could learn more about their enemy._

_She gathered fire around her like a shield against the absolute cold as she stretched further, further, further. At last the bright orange light was right before her – a pretty, round crystal with a steady light within._

_“Show your true form,” she whispered, reaching out for it. “Show me.”_

_The crystal lit up brighter as she reached for it, and she gasped when an orange silhouette appeared around it, forming the shape of a person: with small horns on their head and four eyes on their face that all widened at the sight of her._

_“Who are you?” she asked._

_But the ghost in front of her didn’t answer immediately. They reached out their hand, lacing their fingers through hers._

_“Sol…” they whispered._

_That was what all the lights in her previous visions had whispered. “You’re Sol?”_

_They frowned. “You are…”_

_“I’m not. I’m Ma –”_

_“You shouldn’t be here!” the ghost shrieked. “Go – go!”_

_“No!” she insisted, holding fast to their hand as they tried to tug it away. “Answer my question: Who are you, where are you?”_

_“GO!” they shouted._

_“I can’t go!” she cried. “Not until you tell me who you are!”_

_They looked at her, and she noticed then the faint symbol on their forehead, a circle with two tails that arced around it like a galaxy’s arms…_

_“I am Sirius.”_

_“Your star,” she realized and gasped as the person before_ her _glitched, their whole silhouette flickering._

_“Go,” Sirius whispered again._

_“Wait, wait. Stop!” she yelled, grasping firmer to Sirius' hand. “I want to know… your name. Your real one.”_

_But Sirius shook their head. “I don’t remember,” they said, and winced, their hand squeezing hers as their other came up to clutch the right side of their chest. “You have to go,” they said. “I can’t…”_

_“What’s happening…”_

_“My power’s… being used.” They gasped, all four of their eyes rolled back in their head and she saw the symbol on their forehead change from orange to black, the color spreading through their silhouette until it had disintegrated. She grasped_ for _the hand that had held hers and felt nothing there._

_“I’m sorry about this,” Sirius' voice whispered._

_Sirius' crystal was still in front of her. She reached out for it._

_And jerked back as she heard something shriek. The earsplitting sound echoed in the black vacuum._

_Before her eyes, Sirius' crystal exploded into dozens of tiny shards, racing away from her into the blackness._

_Within it, she saw Sirius' symbol light up far away, the orange color also emanating from a horribly familiar pair of serpentine eyes._

Rei gasped, jerking away from the fire and scraping her elbows as she fell back on the floor of the shrine.

Panting, she scrambled to her feet, backing away from the fire and reaching for her communicator.

“We need another meeting tonight,” she said to Mina. “I saw something.”

 _“Let’s meet at the supermarket a little earlier,”_ Mina answered. “ _Say eleven, they should have closed up by then.”_

“Okay.”

 _“Good, I’ll make sure the others know.”_ Mina paused and then asked: _“are you alright?_ ”

“Of course I am!” Rei snapped.

 _“Hmm… not sure I believe that,_ ” Mina said in a teasing tone.

“Well then come over and see for yourself,” Rei huffed.

 _“Great!”_ Mina said. _“I’ll bring lunch.”_

Rei smiled. “Thank you,” she whispered into the communicator.

 _“Anytime,”_ Mina said. “ _Besides, I sorta need your help with something.”_

“Like what?”

_“Looking for someone.”_

_~AgeofAquarius~_

**Restaurant Reviews**

_Thursday, April 24th_

_Unpopular opinion: I personally don’t think the Sailor Senshi have anything to do with the enemies who come to Earth to destroy us. But I know there's little point arguing that since I've very little evidence to support it. So instead I'll say this: I don’t care whether they're bringing enemies to Earth or not. As long as Sailor Jupiter keeps making pastries, she can attract all the evil she wants._

_Seriously. If you haven’t gone to Kino's to try their pastries and cakes by now, you've been missing out on the singular best thing in Tokyo. Everything is homemade. I never leave without at least an armful of food._

_Truly, I don’t care if the rest of the world burns – as long as I still have Kino's pastries._

_~”Let There Be Cake”_

After calling in sick to work for the first time ever and driving around for a few hours, Michiru'd started to feel hungry. She'd also gotten nowhere with thinking.

After the third time that she nearly rear-ended someone, she pulled off the road and parked the Porsche, leaning her head on the wheel.

That stupid blue plus sign… The image on the test result had floored her so much that it continued to dominate her thoughts. _Why is this the positive outcome; there’s nothing good about this._

She didn’t even know how to start to think about it. She’d never considered this… in fact, before Hotaru’d given her the opportunity, she’d abandoned all fancies of raising any child. It certainly wouldn’t have been fair to bring them up in a family of senshi, constantly surrounded by battles and fighting. It was why she’d shot down Haruka so many times when she brought up the hypothetical futures where they might adopt children. “ _We could hardly give them a normal life,_ ” she’d said time and time again. “ _It wouldn’t be fair.”_

She’d jumped at the chance to raise Hotaru, the one child who could actually benefit from being raised by Senshi. She’d even selfishly argued for keeping her away from Souichi for months longer than necessary. Hotaru was hers. Hotaru was the reason her family was complete. Hotaru was the reason she’d gotten to realize her dream at all.

Hotaru had also made her greedy. In the two years she’d spent raising her, and even more so since she’d moved back in with her father, Michiru’d found herself thinking of and shooting down the same fancies of more children that Haruka’d often brought up. Hotaru was special. It wouldn’t be right to adopt a normal child and force them to share their lives.

 _But this one wouldn’t be normal_ , Michiru thought. _There’s no way._

_They might be a senshi too…_

_Like Chibiusa…_

But Chibiusa was also Chibi Moon. And Neo Queen Serenity would supposedly never transform into Sailor Moon again after she was born.

 _Would I lose my powers?_ Michiru thought, curling her hands into fists on the steering wheel. _I can’t even imagine…_

She’d never had to consider this future before, had never even entertained raising another child, much less creating one.

 _But Usagi must have,_ Michiru realized as she sat in the car. _Goodness, she’s probably had years to think about it with Chibiusa here…_

She straightened up and put the car back into drive, navigating her way over to the pastry shop. It was nearly lunchtime. Usagi and Mako would certainly be taking a lunch break around now.

_I could go under the pretense of joining them for lunch… and bring it up._

Finally having some sort of plan in mind, she felt a little bit calmer as she drove across Juuban. She even chuckled a bit as she neared the district where Mako’s bakery resided.

She’d never imagined going to Usagi for advice.

Michiru parked the Porsche down the block from the bakery at 11:24 and checked her hat and scarf one more time in the rearview mirror. Hell if they’re going to recognize me today, she thought.

When she got out of the car, she glanced down to check her outfit was perfect and frowned.

 _Can they tell in the pictures?_ she wondered, sucking in her gut. She felt both self-conscious and ridiculous. Of course, no one could tell. She couldn’t tell.

Makoto's bakery was mobbed when she walked through the door, so Michiru hung back at one of the seats by the front window, watching Mako and Usagi (and even Usagi's mother) rush back and forth behind the counter.

Usagi caught her eye barely a second after she was in and waved. She was so much more perceptive than they gave her credit for.

A _m I going to do something that makes them suspect... no of course not, they won’t possibly guess..._ Michiru sighed, closing her eyes and trying to center herself. _No one will know_ , she thought. _I am just here to have lunch. I can absolutely make the questions sound casual._

Finally, when there were only two customers left, Michiru approached the counter.

"Michiru!" Usagi grinned at her, leaving the last two of the customers to her mother. They did a double take and Michiru glared towards them until they looked away. If the press showed up, she'd know exactly who to blame.

"Good morning." Michiru smiled as Usagi leaned over the counter beaming at her. "How are you, Usagi?"

"Tired," Usagi complained with an exaggerated pout that made Michiru laugh. "But we started the third crystal point last night so that's coming along." She sighed. "When they're all done, I am taking a whole day off for a nap. These things really cut into your beauty sleep.”

"I'd imagine." She glanced down at the pastries and sandwiches in the display case and her stomach growled.

"I understand that sentiment completely," Usagi nodded seriously. "Lunch comes much to far after breakfast – here!" she reached into the display and pulled out one of the pastries "We have your favorite," she grinned, waving it in front of her. "Still warm."

It was definitely still warm. Michiru could smell the too-sweet, cinnamony smell of the apple filling quite sharply in her nose. She automatically took a step back.

"Are you alright Michiru?" Makoto asked as she leaned in the kitchen doorway. Even Mrs. Tsukino was looking at her.

"Fine," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand and a light laugh. "Perhaps not the apple turnover today. I've been feeling sick lately."

"Awww no," Usagi pouted. "You can’t eat anything?"

"No, no.” Michiru laughed. “I can," she assured Usagi. In fact, she wanted to eat something badly now that she was here looking at all the food behind the glass. She regretted storming out without the cookies this morning. "Maybe just something… lighter," she said, scanning through the options.

"Oh sure," Usagi grinned, following her gaze and pointing things out in the display window. "There's the plain croissants and the bread – Mako-chan makes really good bread. It is actually amazing. Oh! Or there’s…"

As Usagi rambled on, Michiru's eye caught something else in the display: a pastry crispy on the outside, with cheese baked onto it.

 _Sausage and cheese_ , the label read. The cheese looked like it had been baked to perfection and all the pastries looked puffy and stuffed. She suddenly needed to have all of them.

"What about that one," Michiru asked, pointing to it.

"That's… not exactly light," Makoto cautioned.

"And I thought you didn’t like sausage and cheese stuff?" Usagi said, frowning

"Well… why would you think that?" Michiru said, brushing back her hair and trying to appear aloof. _Is that true? I think that is true._

"Cause you said so last time we got it as a pizza," Usagi told her.

She had said that. It had been true. Now, though, the combination seemed to her to be the only thing in the world worth consuming.

Why does Usagi have to know her friends so well, Michiru cursed as she shrugged.

"Well,” she tried to bluff. “That’s only the pizza place - I have a lot more confidence in Makoto's baking skills."

There: Mako was grinning and blushing, and Usagi was nodding as though that were perfectly logical. And she was _dying_ to eat.

"I'll have three," Michiru told Usagi. Each pastry looked to be the size of both her fists. Three was a reasonable number of them, surely?

"Oh okay!" Usagi said. "Hey – if you stick around a bit, we usually take a lunch break soon.”

She’d known that from the mirror. She’d timed her arrival to coincide with it. See, Michiru reassured herself. I can just get perspective from a normal conversation and none of them ever have to know.

"Why don’t you guys take one now," Ikuko suggested, waving at a new group of people trailing in. "I think I can handle this."

"Sweet!" Usagi said, grabbing two boxed lunches from under the counter, and waving Michiru over to the window.

"We could get another mob of customers any minute now," Mako worried. “You might need the help.

"No customer of yours has anything on how Usagi gets when she’s hungry," Ikuko said, crossing her arms confidently as she smirked. "I can handle it."

"She has me too!" Nephrite said as he came out of the kitchen with a fresh tray of baked goods.

"Exactly."

"But,” Makoto protested, “but you've already been such a huge help all day. I can’t thank you enough for helping with the wedding order. And you’ve already done more than enough helping with the rest of the day."

"And I am more than happy to do a little more," Ikuko insisted. "Have lunch with your friends, Makoto. You work too hard."

"Pleeease, Mako-chan," Usagi begged, waving Mako's lunch box in the air.

"A-alright," Mako said, untying her apron.

"Yes!" Usagi cheered, opening her lunch. Michiru sighed in relief when its contents didn’t make her want to be sick.

"So," Michiru said, running over the conversation she'd planned out in her head. "How is the work on the crystal points going?"

“It’s good,” Usagi said through a mouthful of rice. “We finished the one at the Shrine and the one here over the weekend.” She gestured towards the sheet-covered object in the corner of the shop that Michiru’d noticed when she’d walked in. “We started the third one last night. But it’s a lot harder to make one in the middle of the supermarket – at least without attracting attention.”

“We moved a pyramid of boxes to cover it,” Makoto said as she dug into her own lunch. “It’ll take a while for them to move all of them, but we might have some explaining to do if they go through them quicker than we thought.”

“I wouldn’t worry,” Michiru said, noting as she bit into the sausage and cheese pastry that the flavor really was the most heavenly thing she’d ever tasted. “How have I never liked these before?” she murmured.

“Huh?” Usagi asked.

“Nothing,” Michiru said, waving a dismissive hand. She glanced around. No other customers had stayed to sit down. The only person who appeared to be listening was Usagi’s mother.

“Isn’t it strange,” she said, glancing between Usagi and Makoto. “To think you’re building Crystal Tokyo right now.”

“Ah…” Usagi smiled to herself as she glanced down at her lunch, drawing patterns in the rice with one of her chopsticks. “Yeah… it’s a little strange.” She bit her lip. “I’m still not sure it’s possible that I’m going to be Queen in like…three years.”

 _She’d be my age,_ Michiru considered for the first time as she ate more of her pastries. _When she becomes Queen and when she has…_

“And there’ll be Chibiusa in four,” Michiru reminded her.

Ikuko looked up sharply at that. Michiru hoped it was only because she hadn’t considered how close it was, and not because Usagi’d neglected to tell her mother the timeline for that.

“I _know_.” And she was floored by the look on Usagi’s face – a grin the likes of which were normally reserved for saving the world or gazing at Mamoru. “It’s hard to imagine that she’ll have to go back to the future soon,” Usagi said. “And then that I’ll have her back… and she won’t know me at all and I won’t really know her. I get to meet her all over again.” She sighed. “And I remember how small Hotaru was… but I can’t imagine Chibiusa being that small and at the same time I can’t wait for her to be that small because then she’d fit in my arms.”

“Easy there,” Makoto laughed. “You still have four years to wait.”

“I know,” Usagi said, sticking out her tongue.

“Good,” Makoto said, wagging her eyebrows at her friend. “Don’t want any accidents messing up the timeline.”

Michiru coughed, choking on her pastry.

“Are you alright?” Usagi said immediately.

“Fine,” Michiru squeaked, very aware that she was blushing. “Don’t worry about it,” she set her pastry aside and leaned over the table towards Usagi. “It must be daunting, though,” she said. “Knowing you’re going to lose your powers too.”

Usagi looked away. “I… keep trying not to think about that.” She said, taking a breath.

“Hey, you’ll still be able to wield the Silver Crystal,” Makoto said. “You’ll still be the most powerful person on Earth. Plus, all of us will still have our powers.” She flexed her arm muscles. “You can count on us.”

“I know…” Usagi sighed. “But I think that might be the hardest thing – watching you all go off to fight battles and knowing I’m next to useless to go with you.” She said, putting her head in her hands. “I won’t ever be able to use the Silver Crystal in battle the same way I use my power as Sailor Moon.”

Makoto put her hand on Usagi’s arm and Michiru opened her mouth, aching to reassure her, but closed it again. What could she say, when she now faced the same doubts?

_And I don’t even have the Silver Crystal, Michiru realized. I’ll be useless…_

But Usagi seemed to shake herself out of her own funk. She straightened up a few moments later. “But,” she said, her eyes closed as she smiled. “Then I think about Chibiusa… she’s an amazing Senshi… and she’s worked so hard to master her powers.” When she opened her eyes they were sparkling, gazing far away. “And I remember something Endymion said once… about the Earth and the Moon’s powers wanting to be together. And she makes that possible,” Usagi grinned. “She’ll be an even more powerful senshi than me, I just know it. And…” she put her hand over her heart. “Powers or not, I’ll always be a senshi in here.” She glanced between them both. “So… If I have to let go of being Sailor Moon, for her… of course I will. I don’t even have to think about it.”

Michiru swallowed hard, picking at the pastry in her hand.

“Michiru?” Makoto frowned. “Are you okay?”

She only realized then that there was a tear on her cheek. She hastily scrubbed it away. “Fine,” she said quickly. “Just… thinking of Hotaru.” There, that’s a good cover, she thought. Mako was nodding. And so was Usagi.

“You guys must miss her so much,” Usagi said. “I can’t even imagine having Chibiusa gone so much. I even missed her on the nights she used to stay over at Mamoru’s.”

“Mhmm,” Michiru nodded, biting into the last of her pastries. How had she eaten three so quickly? “I just wish it were possible to visit her, but even the hat and scarf wouldn’t confuse the press for long,” she said, fiddling with the hat on her head. “And I can’t risk her identity like that.”

“You can’t see her at all,” Usagi gasped. “Wait! I have an idea!” she stood up, running behind the counter and returning with her purse, digging around in it. “Aha!”

When she whipped out her hand, it held a pink pen with a red jewel capping the top.

“You can use the disguise pen!” Usagi said. “I found out last week it still does a pretty good job of masking my identity. I walked right by a slew of cameras and only a few people glanced twice at me.”

“Really?” Makoto asked. “Do you think Luna and Artemis could make more?”

“Maybe – they probably thought it wouldn’t work… and they’ve been wicked busy too.” She shrugged. “Of course I don’t know if it was entirely the magic… I asked the pen to turn me into a man just to be sure. But here – “ she held the pen out to Michiru. “You should try it!”

Michiru didn’t think turning into a man would be a very good idea right now. Not until she had figured out what she wanted.

She still had no clue. She felt as though she had even less of a clue.

But she did take the pen. “I will try it,” she grinned, standing up from the table. A good excuse as any to not hear Usagi talk about Chibiusa anymore. _Why did I think that would be helpful?_ “In fact…Hotaru should be on her lunch break soon.” Or at least she hoped so. If not she could figure out another plan. But she needed to leave lest Usagi or Makoto figured her out. “I’ll see you both later.”

“Good luck!” they called as she hurried from the shop.

She paused outside the building to straighten her scarf and her hat, which were askew and then continued down the sidewalk.

“Wait!” someone called behind her as she reached her car.

Michiru whirled around. It was Ikuko Tsukino, hustling down the sidewalk with a bakery box under her arm.

“Here,” Ikuko said, holding it out to her. “You’re going to want the rest of these.”

She took the box, glancing through its plastic window. All the other sausage and cheese pastries from the display case had been stuffed inside. They looked delicious. “Uh… thank you.”

“Of course,” Ikuko smiled. “Eat as many of them as you want and don’t be surprised if you absolutely despise them tomorrow.” She chuckled and shook her head. "At this stage, whatever you feel like you want, get as much of it as you can. Cravings and morning sickness are the most miserable combination."

Michiru froze, dropping the box into the passenger seat. “I’m sorry, I think you’re mistaken.”

"Dear,” Ikuko said, raising her eyebrows. “I’m not blind, nor deaf. And I've been in your spot twice. And nearly all of my friends," she said. "I asked questions the very same nature as yours when I first found out about Usagi." She smiled "I was young then. She wasn’t exactly planned. Goodness: we hadn’t even moved into the house yet."

Michiru stared at her.

"It's very different for you," Ikuko said "In fact, I imagine the times you're facing are a thousand times more terrifying than being a newlywed with a studio apartment..." she reached out, surprising Michiru with a hug. One that, Michiru found, was by no means unwelcome. "It is okay if you're confused. Or scared even," Ikuko whispered. "You don’t have to know what you want right now. I didn’t." she squeezed Michiru tighter. "Make the choice that's best for you."

Michiru sighed and let herself enjoy the hug for a few moments, but pulled away once she felt tears gathering in her eyes.

"Thank you," she said stiffly. "But I can handle it."

"I’m sure you can," Ikuko said gently. "But you're even younger than I was... and there’s points in all our lives where we all need a little bit of mothering.” She squeezed Michiru’s shoulders. “I can do that if you need one.”

~ _AgeofAquarius~_

The maroon jacket and gray pants of a Mugen professor gave Michiru uncomfortable flashbacks to her days as a student there, and the campus covered in all the students wearing the same green plaid skirts and ties and blue bows on their uniforms certainly didn’t help.

But her knowledge of the grounds and the building helped in one way at least. Souichi’d rebuilt it from the original blueprints. So everything was in exactly the same place.

It was not, as it happened, the fifth graders’ lunch period, but it was easy enough with the fake Mugen badge to knock on the door of Hotaru’s class and claim to be escorting her to an important practice exam.

And of course, her daughter was more than willing to play along. “Yes – I told you about it last week,” she said to her literature teacher with the most practiced look of innocence on her face. They had perhaps trained her to get away with things a bit too well.

“I have an extra note from her father here,” Michiru added. She’d gotten very good at forging Souichi’s signature over the years when they’d always needed it on Hotaru’s paperwork.

“Oh – well go on then,” the frazzled literature teacher said.

Hotaru practically skipped out the door and all the way down the hall.

As soon as they were in the elevator, though, with no one around to spy, Hotaru dove at Michiru and squeezed her.

“Gentle,” Michiru murmured, though she hugged Hotaru back just as tightly.

“How are you here?” Hotaru asked, looking up at her as the elevator moved towards the ground floor. “Why’s your hair in a bun?”

Michiru smirked and pulled the Lunar disguise pen from the pocket of her suit coat. “We still have a few tricks up our sleeves,” she said. “It was Usagi’s idea.” She bent down so she could kiss Hotaru’s forehead and beamed at her. It had been a whole week since they’d seen each other at Rei’s party. “I thought unless you were opposed to it, that you wouldn’t mind spending the afternoon with me.”

“Hell yes!” Hotaru said. “I… I mean just yes,”

“I will overlook the language this once,” Michiru winked, crushing her close again. “It’s so good to see you.”

No one questioned the Mugen student walking with her professor through the lobby, or even off the campus. And Michiru reveled in the first taste of anonymity either of them had gotten in ages.

Ice cream was their first stop, and she was grateful her favorite flavor was still one she wanted to eat. Hotaru would certainly notice the smallest change in her behavior.

“And so Kara says her mother’s been talking to the press non-stop,” Hotaru was saying as they walked through the park. “And she’s been arguing with Kara’s dad about what they want to do.” Hotaru took another bite of her ice cream.“Her dad wants to give Mina another chance, but Hikari’s being a bi-itter, uh. Bitter about it.”

“And how does Kara feel?”

“She wants Mina to come home,” Hotaru said. “And she asks a lotta questions about the sailor stuff when we hang out.” She frowned. “I think her Mom’s really confusing her. It’s not fair.”

“It certainly isn’t.”

“And I still haven’t found my communicator yet,” Hotaru pouted.

“You will,” Michiru assured her, feeling a little bit guilty. She knew where it was, had known since she’d looked in the mirror for it. But Setsuna’s insisted it was best to let this situation resolve itself without their intervention. “I promise it’ll make its way back to you.”

“Not soon enough,” Hotaru sulked. And she looked so downtrodden that Michiru led her over to one of the benches by the pond.

She pulled Hotaru close once they were sitting down. “I am at least comforted to know being a senshi isn’t interfering as much with your normal life in the meanwhile,” Michiru said.

“But I want it to!” Hotaru protested. “I want to help you all! I want to fight with you!”

Michiru sighed. “I know,” she rubbed her hand up and down Hotaru’s arm. “But I am selfishly a little glad you are not fighting as many of these fights as you could be.” She gazed out at the still water of the pond. “Being Neptune consumed my whole life when I was fifteen – four years older than you are. There’s days I don’t know who I am without her.”

“But why would you want to?” Hotaru asked. “She’s a part of you like Saturn’s a part of me. A really big part.”

“I suppose,” Michiru sighed. “Sometimes I think it’s unfair to you,” she told Hotaru. “There isn’t a day in your life that you’ve lived without being part of the senshi,” she shook her head as she smiled, remembering. “Goodness, even before you learned you were Saturn, we were telling you about the Sailors as bedtime stories.”

“Yeah,” Hotaru said. “How’s that unfair? I loved those. I still love those.” She snuggled closer to Michiru. “I still remember lots of my other life,” she said. “And even before the Death Busters, I was pretty lonely. I had friends in elementary school, but I never got to see them much. And Mommy and Dad were busy at work a lot.” She shrugged. “I used to ask Mom and Dad when I was getting siblings and they always said all they needed was me.”

“Oh?” Michiru murmured, looking away from Hotaru.

“And… after the accident…” she shivered. “I had powers I didn’t understand, just like I do as Saturn. But Dad never helped me understand what they were… I guess that was because he had the Death Busters in his head,” she carried on. “But still – you always explained. Even when my powers were scary.” She looked up at Michiru. “So I don’t feel like it was unfair. You guys even made all my weird powers seem cool.”

“Nothing about you is weird,” Michiru said immediately. “You have an amazing connection to the universe that very few people will ever have. Maybe you’re not normal,” she said, ruffling Hotaru’s hair. “But neither are you weird. You are special. And important.”

Hotaru grinned at her, turning and wrapping both arms around Michiru. “See – you’re a good mom,” she said. “Why would it ever be unfair to me that you raised me?”

She was getting choked up again. At least these tears she didn’t have to explain away. But…

“I’d still give anything for you to have a normal life,” Michiru murmured. “Try not to be mad at me, that I’m relieved you’ve been spared the last few battles."

“But you just said I’m special and important!” Hotaru said, frowning at her. “I’m not a little kid anymore – Mina was only a year older than me when she was fighting alone – and that’s only going by what grade I’m in.” She crossed her arms. “I like that you guys try to protect me. But you can’t feel guilty just because I have a destiny too. You’d have no control over that no matter who raised me,” she said. “I’m meant to be Saturn. I’m meant to protect the Earth… And you.” She bit her lip. “I hate watching you guys fight on the news and being powerless to do anything about it.” She rubbed her eyes. “I want to protect you too. I want you to be proud that I can fight.”

“Oh, Sweet Pea,” Michiru murmured. She hugged Hotaru tightly. “I’m proud of you no matter what,” she whispered.

They sat for a while, enjoying the sun and the sound of the dragonflies buzzing over the pond, while Michiru hugged Hotaru and tried not to think the millions of other thoughts going through her head.

She couldn’t feel guilty about Hotaru being a senshi. Was it right to feel guilty about the chance that another child of hers could be one? Particularly when, unlike Hotaru, she’d had a hand in determining that fate… did it matter?

 _Even if it doesn’t, it will still cripple us if I decide to…_ She pushed the thought away before it got farther than that. She needed more space. She needed more time to think.

“Mama?” Hotaru asked after a while. She’d been holding Michiru extra tightly for the past few minutes. “When I was Saturn, when we fought the snake, your energy felt really strange.”

She pulled away from Hotaru. Her daughter’s eyes were closed and her brow furrowed as she concentrated. “I can even feel it a little now… It’s still really strange.”

“Don't worry about that,” Michiru assured her, standing up from the bench to put some space between them. “Setsuna’s found a solution.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Hotaru asked.

“Nothing,” Michiru said. “I promise.” She checked her watch and sighed. Mugen would be getting out soon. “Come on,” she said, holding her hand out and putting her arm around Hotaru’s shoulders when she stood up. “I have to take you home now.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

The sun had just begun to set when she finally wound up at the beach, parking the car and gazing at the setting orange circle on the other side of Tokyo’s skyline before walking to the stairs and down onto the sand.

She kicked off her shoes, standing at the water’s edge and sighing as the cold seawater rushed up over her ankles.

She wrapped her arms around her waist as she listened to the gentle crash of the waves on the shore, and breathed in the soothing smell of the ocean. When the whole sky had turned orange and pink from the sunset and most of the beach was cast in darkness by the sea wall, she chanced removing the scarf and hat from her head, letting her distinctive hair fall freely behind her, blowing in the sea breeze, hoping there would be no Press near enough to recognize her.

She waited until the sky had changed to a dark purple and blue, the bright orange of the sunset sinking closer to the horizon line.

She wrapped her arms tighter around herself. It was getting chilly.

Perhaps she could face them now.

She closed her eyes, concentrating on Setsuna. _I’m at the beach,_ she called out in her thoughts.

 _We’ll be there soon,_ Setsuna replied.

Michiru sighed, soaking in the sounds and smells of the sea and gazing out at the bright orange horizon.

"What do I do?" she whispered amid the soothing sounds of the ocean’s swells breaking over the beach. She took the Aqua Mirror from her bag and scowled at it. "Why didn’t you warn me?"

There were Haruka’s eyes as there always seemed to be now and, just as always, partially obscured by a curtain of aqua hair. She reached up to brush hers back and stopped.

 _"Your hair isn’t in your face, Michiru,"_ Haruka’d said.

Michiru moved her hand away from her face, frowning at the mirror and swallowing the lump in her throat as she took in the two distinctive features together in its depths: her hair falling across Haruka’s wide, deep blue eyes.

Slowly, she moved the mirror away from her face, careful not to move her head, until she was gazing only out at the sea once more. Her hair was blowing behind her. She had a perfect view of the water and the horizon – which was now a deep red line surrounded by the orange sunset and the soft pinks of the scattered clouds.

She took a deep breath and brought the mirror back in front of her sightline.

Dark blue eyes gazed back at her, partially obscured by a fringe of hair the same aqua as her own.

The aqua hair resided solely within the mirror’s depths, she realized. It had never been her, physical hair.

Just as it had never been Haruka’s eyes…

Michiru’s hands were shaking as she covered her mouth and held the mirror to her chest so she would not have to look at it. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying to push back the urge to cry, and focused on the soft sounds of the waves lapping at the shore. She sank down so that she knelt in the wet sand, the water soaking the hem of her skirt.

 _Why now?_ she thought.

Behind her, she heard the creak of two heavy doors swinging open, and the soft sounds of two pairs of feet making their way across the sand.

"Hey," Haruka whispered as she and Setsuna knelt on either side of her, wrapping their arms around her waist.

“So this is what was affecting my future,” Michiru murmured, leaning her head against Haruka’s shoulder.

“It disappeared,” Setsuna confessed. “Which I’d only ever seen happen in very anomalous circumstances. I never thought it could be something like this.”

“What does that mean?” Michiru asked, turning the mirror over in her hands and gazing at the back of it.

“I believe it simply means there are too many possibilities for any future to be distinguished right now.”

Michiru sighed, closing her eyes. “I don’t know what to do," she whispered. “I mean the enemy…”

“They could attack at any time,” Haruka worried. “And we’re still bracing for a larger offensive.”

“Don’t think about that,” Setsuna advised.

“I can’t help it,” Michiru cried, shaking her head. “It would be irresponsible to…” her voice cracked as she began to cry, despite her best efforts not to.

She felt Haruka’s other hand cover hers and let go of the Aqua Mirror so she could clasp it tightly.

Setsuna’s hand brushed across Michiru's cheek, turning her face so she could look at her. "If you were just a normal 21-year-old, what would you do?"

"Not be making this decision!” Michiru snapped. “Since I wouldn’t have had magic to…” she nearly laughed. It came out as a hiccup instead. "This wasn’t supposed to be possible.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head "And it was the one situation I thought I’d never have to deal with as a lesbian." She laughed again, feeling ridiculous for crying at the same time. “It figures this one -” she glared at Haruka “- could cause just as much trouble.”

“I’m uh,” Haruka muttered. “Sorry.”

Michiru sighed, her gaze softening as she looked at Haruka. “What should I do?”

“I-I… I’m not making that decision for you.”

“You’re the reason this is a problem.”

“Half the reason,” Haruka protested. "You seduced me."

Setsuna sighed. “I could… make it so it wasn’t a decision you had to make.”

Michiru stiffened “How?”

Setsuna looked at the two of them. Haruka was staring desperately at her, and Michiru’s gaze had fallen back to the Aqua Mirror. She watched as Michiru turned it face-up in her hands.  “I could go back,” Setsuna said gently. From the corner of her eye, she saw a glint of aqua and blue in Michiru's mirror. “I could stop you both from causing that reaction on Uranus.”

“You would have to cross your own timeline,” Haruka worried.

“Not if I was careful,” Setsuna insisted. “And if I stop you, it never has to be a problem.”

“No!” Michiru said quickly, shaking her head. “I mean that’s… too dangerous for you.”

“But it is a solution,” Setsuna said. “I can go back. And it would never be a problem. It would never have happened. It’s still fairly early on, nothing’s changed for you so much that it would affect the events of the past few weeks.” She watched Michiru closely. Her fingers had curled quite tightly around the Aqua Mirror. “It wouldn’t have happened. You wouldn’t even remember it. But I would, and so I’d know it was possible if you ever wanted to try i-“

“She’s not an it!” Michiru exploded. “She’s…” and then she froze, staring at Setsuna.

The beach was silent for a few moments, save the ever-present whisper of the waves crashing across the beach.

Haruka sniffed. Michiru turned to gaze out at the fast-fading sunset, now only the finest strip of red and orange across the horizon.

"You'll be down a soldier," Michiru whispered.

"It's happened before," Setsuna said.

“Not for so long… I mean who knows how my transformation will be effected as this continues.”

"Well, the girls handled the Dead Moon mostly on their own while we raised Hotaru,” Haruka reminded her. “You can do this."

"But we were _stronger_ than them," Michiru stressed. “Mostly at least.”

"And as more of us get our stronger powers, like Mina and Usagi, it won't matter,” Setsuna said.

Michiru sighed. "And if I lose my powers, like Serenity will?"

“Well the Queen in the Silver Millennium could still use the Silver Crystal,” Haruka said.

“As can Neo Queen Serenity,” Setsuna added. “So I can say with near certainty that you would never lose all of your powers – Especially if you’re able to awaken Neptune. And It’s equally likely you won’t lose them at all,” Setsuna continued. “I know for a fact Makoto had a daughter of her own in the 30th century and she could still transform.”

"And us?" Michiru whispered. “Did the three of us have other children?”

Setsuna shook her head. "You and Haruka didn’t have any," she said. "But your path has been altered since my rebirth here, so your future was always more flexible."

"Why was it changed?"

Setsuna looked up at the sky. "That is something I shouldn’t say"

The tide had retreated, only the occasional wave washed up to tickle their knees. They watched the last of the light dip below the horizon line.

"So..." Haruka cleared her throat. "She?"

"I don’t know where that came from," Michiru murmured. Then she groaned.

"What?" they both asked.

"I’m going to get _fat_!"

Haruka snorted. Setsuna covered a chuckle with her hand and the both of them shifted closer to Michiru; their hands wrapped around hers where she held the Aqua Mirror.

"You'll be beautiful no matter what," Setsuna murmured.

"And it will just give you a better excuse than normal to buy more clothes," Haruka teased.

"I never need an excuse," Michiru scoffed.

She leaned back in their arms, gazing up at the millions of stars overhead.

"And I might get mood swings… I could be absolutely horrid."

"We can handle it."

"And..." Michiru frowned. "How do we tell Hotaru?"

"Uh..." Haruka considered. "Right away."

"Delicately," Setsuna added.

Haruka groaned. "She's going to ask how this happened."

"I actually think she'll figur..." Setsuna began to say.

But she was cut off by their communicators; all three were beeping the frantic alert that signaled the sunspots approach.

 _“Fifty approaching from the sky,”_ Ami’s voice came through as they watched overhead. “ _No… sixty! They’re grouped too close for me to see!”_

The three outer senshi scrambled to their feet, noticing the large black cloud approaching, blocking out all the stars. They watched as it covered the city and gasped as hundreds of lights in many colors lit up within it. Their brightness flared up and they divided, all of them diving down towards the city.

They had transformed and leapt up onto the nearest building by the time the first explosion lit up downtown, dozens of sunspots appearing black against the cloud of fire and then brightly colored as they circled the dark city. "That’s Minato ward," Neptune said, gazing into the mirror. "Near the Tsukinos house.”

“They’re blanketing Juuban,” Pluto murmured, gazing at the pattern of their lights in the dark sky. “Come on!” she said, summoning the Time Doors.

"Neptune, wait," Uranus said as Neptune and Pluto stepped into the Time Dimension.

"If you're about to tell me not to fight,” Neptune warned.

“No, but we should be careful.”

"They are raining out of the sky," Neptune fired back.

"She's right," Setsuna said. "That looks like hundreds – we need everyone on hand."

She opened the doors onto the chaotic scene of the central shopping district, pedestrians and cars rushing in every direction to avoid the blasts from the sunspots hovering overhead.

Uranus summoned the Space Sword. “Stay behind us at least,” she said, rushing out into the battle. “ _Space Sword BLASTER!”_

_~Á Suivre~_


	15. The Sunspot Invasion

**The Sunspot Invasion**

Mina, Rei, and Makoto rushed out of Hikawa Shrine just in time to see the dark cloud overhead split apart into hundreds of sunspots, all falling towards different parts of Juuban.

And at least 20 were bearing right down on them.

They had barely transformed when the blasts started reigning down on Hikawa’s grounds. Jupiter dove out of the way of the first volley of blasts, which hit the slider door on Hikawa’s fire room and blasted it to smithereens.

“ _Fuck!_ ” Jupiter shouted, launching _Coconut Cyclone_ overhead to break up the densely packed ring of sunspots circling the shrine.

“They’re covering the city!” Venus realized as she looked past the ring of lights around Hikawa at the many flying in the sky beyond. Something exploded to the east, and they whipped around, seeing the plume of fire rising off a nearby residential neighborhood.

“Usagi…” Mars whispered.

“We’ve got to see what’s going on!” Venus shouted. “Cover me!” and she shot up into the air, both hands outstretched as Mars and Jupiter aimed for the sunspots who dove towards her.

_“Jupiter Oak Evolution!”_

_“Mars Flame Sniper!”_

_“Venus Passionate Vengeance!”_

Between the three attacks they killed a dozen of the sunspots diving towards the Shrine and damaged ten of the other, closely packed enemies, all of whom dove off in different directions, clearing the blockade around the shrine but still shooting off blasts of dark energy that the three of them barely dodged. They landed on the shrine roof as the Sunspots circled back around.

“Everyone,” Venus spoke into her communicator as the three of them went back to back on the shrine’s roof – watching as the sunspots overhead re-grouped. “Status.”

 _“They’re a block from the house!”_ Sailor Moon responded immediately. “ _Chibi Moon and I can’t hold them for long!”_

 _“We’re at the TV tower,”_ Uranus said. “ _There’s hundreds around – in all directions.”_

 _“At Lunar Command,”_ Mercury said. _“Reinforcing… the building defenses.”_

“Cover Me,” Venus told Mars and Jupiter, flying up higher over the shrine as she dodged blast after blast, losing control of her flight only once when she banked hard to the left to avoid an attack of black fire that singed her skirt.

Mars and Jupiter managed to keep enough of the sunspots off of Venus for her to get a quick glimpse of the rest of Juuban.

 _“Venus Wink Chain Sword,_ ” she said as she descended again. She arced the sword around and sent seven more sunspots diving out of the way. “They’re all over Juuban,” she told Jupiter and Mars when she landed. “We need to get them all away from the buildings. Or at least the residences,”

“How?” Mars shouted.

“Find Mercury,” Venus said. “Sweep through the streets, get the civilians under cover and see if you can draw their fire.” She nodded to Jupiter. “How long can you stay in the air?”

Jupiter grinned. “We’re gonna find out!” And she lifted the hammer, shooting up ahead of Venus.

Venus and Mars reached for each other as _Flame Sniper_ and _Love and Beauty Shock_ combined to take out more of their attackers. They grasped hands.

“Find Mercury,” Venus ordered her. “Keep an eye on their movements. We need to know their objective.”

“Right,” Mars nodded. “We’ll head for the Tsukinos.”

_The Tsukinos…_

At once, Minako had a split-second realization.

All her old instincts agreed: Protect Sailor Moon.

_But Sailor Moon’s our most powerful asset in these fights. Chibi Moon and she both…_

She’d been set that directive when she was 12 - before Sailor Moon had come into her powers as a warrior or the Queen. She’d been set that directive by a monarch long dead - who’d never imagined what they were facing now.

Sailor Moon could hold her own in this fight. It was another of their team who might be vulnerable.

 _I’m the leader now,_ Venus decided. _I’m changing the call._

“No,” she told Mars, squeezing her hand. “Go to the TV tower. I need you and Mercury to help the outer senshi.”

“What?”

“Civilian presence will be heavy there,” Venus justified. “And… you need to protect Neptune.”

“Why?”

“It’s important. Trust me.” Venus said.

Mars nodded. “Right.” She let off another Flame Sniper at two sunspots who’d been sneaking up on them from the trees. One shrieked, the flaming arrow reducing it in size by half. The second dodged, flying around the Shrine to attack from their other side.

Venus flew up into the air with a powerful push of her wings. “I’ll keep in contact!” she shouted down to Mars as she shot up, up, up into the air. Mars watched her crack the love whip, taunting all the sunspots around Hikawa into following her as she flew towards Jupiter.

 _Don’t let them kill you,_ Mars thought to Venus

_Ditto._

As _Wink Chain Sword_ and _Coconut Cyclone_ exploded overhead, Mars ran to Hikawa’s stairs, scanning the city below.

“Mercury,” Mars said into her communicator. “Rendezvous on the High Street.”

_“Copy!”_

_“Sailor Moon,”_ Venus' voice crackled through. _“We’re circling around to you.”_

When Sailor Moon heard the communication, she and Chibi Moon were blocked in by a cyclone of black rose petals. She pressed Chibi Moon closer to her and winced as the petals scalded her wings, which she’d folded around them both. Through the feathers, she could see the sunspots overhead preparing another barrage of attacks.

“There’s too many!” Chibi Moon shouted.

 _She might be right_ , Sailor Moon thought. _And the wind’s too high for me to fly._

And _Therapy Kiss_ had been neutralized by the sheer strength of the whirlwind. She didn’t want to waste it more than once.

The wind was too strong for her to dive through, or fly through with her wings.

_We need to counter it!_

“Chibi Moon,” Sailor Moon said. “We have to fly out the top.”

“It’s too strong!”

“Not if I have your help,” Sailor Moon said, pointing towards the ground.

Chibi Moon’s eyes widened. “Got it!” She turned away from Sailor Moon, wincing as the rose petals burned her face. She aimed both of her hands down as Sailor Moon grasped her shoulders. _“Moon Freezing Heartache!”_

The blast of pink snowflakes sent them rocketing into the air, disrupting the force of the cyclone long enough for Sailor Moon to pump her wings and fly them out the rest of the way.

 _“Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!”_ Sailor Moon shouted, moving the scepter around until she had taken out ten of the sunspots.

But many more still hovered close by. And all over the neighborhood, the houses were in flames.

“There’s Jupiter and Venus!” Chibi Moon shouted, pointing as Sailor Moon kept her aloft with one hand clasped in hers.

Sailor Moon looked to the west and bit her lip. It was Venus and Jupiter alright – holding their own if the diminishing number of Sunspots on their tail were any judge.

But they were surrounded. She watched Venus take a hit to the wings and plummet downward, stopped only when Jupiter dove and grabbed her hand.

 _We need to put out the fires,_ Sailor Moon thought, keeping Chibi Moon floating beside her by clasping her hand. _Or else no one will have anywhere to hide._

 _Therapy Kiss_ didn’t have that kind of range, but she recalled something that did.

“Chibi Moon: when you came to save me from Galaxia you and the Asteroid Quartet used an ice attack.”

“Yeah, but they’re not here!” Chibi Moon cried. “And we’d only done it twice…” She shivered as she looked around at the whole neighborhood in flames. “I don’t know if I can make it big enough on my own…”

Sailor Moon squeezed her hand. “You can do it,” she smiled. “I’m here to help you.”

Chibi Moon stared at her a moment and nodded. “Right.” She raised her free hand to her lips and kissed it, Sailor Moon mimicking her as Chibi Moon channeled both of their powers.

 _Pink Lady’s Freezing Kiss_ exploded from both of their hands; the pulse took out another ten sunspots on its quest to put out the fires.

“We did it!” Chibi Moon gasped as they landed on the street, Sailor Moon scanning around for more sunspots.

“We did,” Sailor Moon said. She let off a _Therapy Kiss_ towards some of the sunspots converging on Venus and Jupiter. It took down the closest five.

“Come on,” she told Chibi Moon. “We have too –” but she froze and whipped around, pushing Chibi Moon behind her as something impossibly cold advanced towards her.

She raised her arm to block the approaching dark energy blast.

_Clang!_

Before her eyes, a cast iron pan swung between her and the approaching blast, hitting the dark energy dead on. The dark energy exploded on contact and the warped and ruined pan fell from the hands that had swung it.

“Do you routinely just let them hit you from behind?” Ikuko yelled, face pale as she took in the sunspots flying in from all sides.

“Mom!” Sailor Moon gasped.

Ikuko fell onto her, squeezing Sailor Moon tightly around her shoulders. “Be careful!” she worried.

Sailor Moon smiled, hugging her back briefly and pulling away. “I will,” and she grabbed Chibi Moon’s hand again, the two of them flying up into the air. “Let’s get them away from the houses,” Sailor Moon decided, carrying them higher into the air so they could meet Jupiter and Venus. Every sunspot in the area began flying after them.

“ _They’re targeting us!_ ” Mercury said through the communicator. _“All the sunspots are converging on the TV tower!”_

 _“Then we’re going to beat them there!”_ Venus shouted. “ _Let’s contain this fight to one location.”_

“Should we teleport and get ahead of them?” Chibi Moon asked.

Sailor Moon shook her head. “No,” she said, pulling them out of the way of a flurry of rose petals. “We need to make sure they follow.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

_“We interrupt this program for an Emergency Bulletin,”_ the news castor’s voice announced. Souichi jumped up from the couch when he saw the senshi in the video behind the news castor. He recognized Neptune, Pluto, and Uranus’ colors clustered together on a roof near the TV tower. _“There is a major offensive going on in Juuban between the Senshi and their enemy. All traffic through Juuban has been blocked. All Tokyo residents are advised to remain indoors. We will be doing non-stop coverage to give you the latest updates.”_

He’d ignored Saturn’s communicator when it had started going off within the safe in his room. None of the attacks so far has been so large! he thought as his eyes tallied up the number of individual monsters he could see diving across the camera’s view.

The center of Tokyo on a Thursday night would be packed with civilians. He watched Neptune dive in front of a group of twenty, deflecting their attacks with her mirror, and then watched Uranus dive in front of an attack aimed at Neptune’s side. Uranus was thrown up into the air, slamming into the side of the TV tower and falling into a crowd of pedestrians.

_“It looks like the Senshi are not fairing as well against a larger number of these things as we might have believed. Defense forces have been mobilized but are currently being barred from entering the battle zone. Communications from one of their squads say all of their navigational equipment was scrambled when they got within ten kilometers of Juuban.”_

From the other side of the apartment, Hotaru’s door slammed open. Souichi sprang towards the front door; he stood in front of it with his hands on either side of the frame.

“Move!” his daughter’s voice ordered as she stormed up to him. Except it was not Hotaru glaring him down with a blade twice her height glinting in front of his face.

Saturn held the Silence Glaive in both hands, the white jewel on her tiara flashing under the hallway lights. “Dad,” she ordered. “I saw the explosion from my window. I’m going.”

“It is too dangerous.”

“Exactly!” Saturn seethed. And for a moment he thought she might turn her blade on him. But Saturn only tightened her grip on it, staring down at her hands a moment.

When she looked back up, her eyes were sad as she gazed at him. “This is too dangerous for me to stay behind,” Saturn said. “I am a senshi, Dad.” She stood up on her tip-toes to look taller and pressed one of her hands over her heart. “My safety isn’t worth so many people’s lives… especially not when more of them could be saved with my help.”

Souichi swallowed the lump in his throat. He lowered his hands away from the doorframe, though he couldn't bring his feet to move out of her way. “But all the transportation in and out of Juuban has been stopped.

“Then I’ll run there,” Saturn said, stepping around him and reaching for the door handle.

He watched her open the door. He couldn’t just let her walk out. “Saturn, wait.”

“What?” she said, whirling around and frowning at him.

He sighed and picked up the keys from the side table. “The car can get you there faster.”

Souichi wasn’t sure how fast senshi could run, but surely not faster than the speed limit on the highway.

And he, admittedly, went much faster. Coupled with the amount of swerving he did to get around the abandoned and crashed cars and he imagined he would see a file of traffic violations in the mailbox thicker than Mugen’s student records.

Every time he banked too hard to the left, or drove straight over a crack or obstacle in the road, he glanced over at Saturn.

They never fazed her. Her eyes were even closed as they drove closer to Juuban; her hand was tight over the door handle as though she were prepared to leap out at any second whether they were still moving or not.

“They’re near the TV tower,” Souichi told her.

“I know,” Saturn whispered. “I just got through to Mama.”

He sighed, refocusing completely on the road ahead. “It’s still… strange to hear you call them that,” he said without looking at her. “It’s not that I don’t respect them as your parents… I do. Or… I’ve been trying to.” His hands tightened on the wheel as he drove them around another wrecked car. “It’s hard to think sometimes that three people who are so young are doing so much better at giving you a happy life than me…”

He didn’t know if she was looking at him, though he hoped so.

“It’s just hard for me to call them your mothers,” he told her. “You had your mother, Hotaru, no matter for how short a time… and I’m… I’m glad you don’t live your life mourning her, but there are days when I still do.” Souichi cleared his throat. “It is the hardest thing to think of anyone replacing her.”

It was a few minutes of silence before he felt a silk-gloved hand on his arm. He turned towards Saturn.

And she was smiling in an unguarded, kind way. It was an expression he rarely saw directed at him these days.

“They'd never replace her,” Saturn said. “I love the four of you so much… And I still love her even though she’s not here.” She closed her eyes. “And you don’t have to mourn her, Dad. She’s everywhere.”

Souichi was stunned as she held her hand out in front of her, the image of a white and purple flower appearing above her palm.

“A lilac,” he whispered.

“They were her favorite,” Saturn said. “I know because she smells like them.” She looked over at him.

“Smells?” _present tense?_ He struggled to focus on the road.

“Mhmm,” she said. “I can smell lilacs all over the apartment. Everywhere.”

“But… I don’t have flowers in the house,” he whispered.

“Mugen Academy smells like lilacs to me too,” Saturn confided as the car raced closer to Juuban. “That was her dream, right? To build a school.”

“Yes,” Souichi whispered.

“And you realized it for her.”

“How do you know that?” he wondered, squinting at something dark in the middle of the road ahead.

“I don’t know.”

And as Saturn spoke he realized the large, dark mass, spanning the length of the highway was a pile of cars, just in time to slam on the breaks and send the car skidding to a stop.

Saturn had dove from the vehicle and up onto the top of the wrecks even before the wheels stopped spinning. In the blink of an eye, the Silence Glaive was in her hands.

“You don’t have to mourn her, Daddy,” she smiled. “She’s always been with you.” And as he sprang out of the driver’s seat, she leaped off the pile of cars, onto one of the buildings on the side of the highway. He stood and stared, fists clenched, at her tiny silhouette running into the chaos in the heart of Juuban.

He would have watched until he was sure she’d disappeared, but he heard something thud within the pile of wrecked cars.

He ran up to the broken windows and reached in to help the two people in the nearest car. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’m a doctor.”

As he freed the first person from the car, he thought he smelled a hint of lilac on the breeze.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Neptune dove in front of the mass of tourists huddled on the observation level of Tokyo Tower. She blocked the oncoming attacks with _Submarine Reflection_ and chased after the sunspots by pushing off the observation level’s glass windows. She flew over the attacking sunspots and sent _Violin Tide_ crashing into them from above, obliterating all of them when her attack merged with the Space Sword Blaster Uranus hit them with from below.

She landed perfectly, Uranus already there to meet her. They moved back to back, scanning the square and the surrounding buildings as they parried attacks from the sunspots off the talismans.

"You okay?" Uranus murmured.

"I could do this all night." She grinned. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the sunspots overhead. "Those four have the water attacks." She glared "No one uses water against me."

"They threw you into a building last time," Uranus said, stepping to the right and turning them both while Neptune stepped to match her. "I'll take them: you put out those fire ones."

"With pleasure," she said, raising her arm " _Deep Submerge!"_

_"World SHAKING!"_

Their attacks hit their targets dead on. Uranus shredded a water cyclone to bits and Neptune put out three flamethrowers and the fires burning through a row of shops.

But the sunspots kept coming, forming a tight ring over their heads, more and more piling on top of the others.

“They're trapping us," Neptune said as she and Uranus shot another _Deep Submerge_ and _World Shaking_ up towards the top of the dome of sunspots. They took out a few, but it did little to stop the others, who continued to crowd together over their heads,

"We need to get outta here," Uranus said, grabbing her hand.

"Pluto's coming."

As the sunspots overhead prepared their attacks, Uranus saw the heavy bank of fog sweep towards them and grinned, watching as it encircled them and then billowed up over their heads. The chilly fog completely blocking them from view. Then her eye caught the garnet colored gleam off to her right. "Come on," she said, pulling Neptune along.

They ran out of the sunspots range and right to Pluto, standing with Mars and Mercury at the mouth of an alley.

"I count 237 of them here," Mercury said. "About 70 more tailing Venus and Jupiter; 50 following Moon." she looked at them through her visor. "They're coming in from the east in 3 minutes."

“Perfect timing," Uranus said. "These things are getting restless.”

"They’ve been targeting civilians when they don’t see us,” Mars said. “We need to get back out there.”

“The civilians are in danger regardless,” Mercury said. “There're at least 500 people in the square, and more of them are rushing from the buildings each time one takes a hit.

“Saturn’s on her way,” Pluto said. “We can put up the Silence Wall – give those out in the streets time to run for cover.

“Fog’s clearing in the meanwhile,” Uranus said. “If we want to distract them from the people we have to do it now.” She nodded to Neptune, “cover us,” and then to Pluto, who ran with her out into the fading fog, just at the edge of the dome of sunspots.

Neptune cast _Violin Tide_ and Mercury, _Aqua Rhapsody_ to freeze the first wave of enemies who dove to surround Uranus and Pluto. They watched the two of them raise their talismans in tandem, as _Chronos Typhoon_ and _Space Sword Blaster_ combined into a whirlwind that sucked half the sunspots overhead into its grasp.

“Mars,” Neptune prompted.

Mars nodded, running out into the street and throwing _Flame Sniper_ at the whirlwind, setting it alight and burning up all the sunspots trapped inside.

Beside her, Mercury’s visor was flashing and her communicator, beeping. She flicked her eyes across the screen.

“They’re spreading out,” Mercury said. “They’re hitting the surrounding streets.”

“Trying to separate us.” Neptune scowled, watching Venus and Jupiter fly in overhead with Moon and Chibi Moon. All of them spun around to see when they realized the sunspots were no longer following them.

She looked at the Aqua Mirror. “They’re targeting the department stores and restaurants,” Neptune said. “There’ll be lots of people still inside.”

“They know what incentivizes us then,” Mercury determined. She spoke into her communicator. “Sailor Moon, sweep 3 blocks out to the east. Venus, the same to the west.”

 _“Right!”_ they both answered together.

“Everyone else: get the civilians to come to the TV tower,” Mercury told them. “Once Saturn arrives we put up the Silence Wall.”

Neptune felt rather than saw the attack of fire overhead. She pushed Mercury down just as it roared past, and caught a whiff of the strongly scented smoke from her own singed hair. The acrid smell made her stomach roll and she rushed away, throwing up against the wall of a building as Mercury cast _Aqua Rhapsody_ up at their attackers.

“Neptune?” Mercury asked.

“Fine,” Neptune coughed, checking the Aqua Mirror. There was a high concentration of civilians blocked in on a street on the other side of the alley. She beckoned to Mercury. “Come on.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

They’d fought on these streets enough to know the best places to hide, and with Mercury’s help, it was simple to guide the civilians to the most covered routes.

It was another matter to keep them covered where they congregated – out in the open on the main streets.

Neptune began to notice her fatigue fifteen minutes into pushing civilians away from attacks and out of the open. Her power was dwindling too. She dove in front of a stream of civilians that she’d directed towards and escape route and faltered when she tried to summon the energy for _Submarine Reflection._ She threw up the Aqua Mirror as a physical block instead, stumbling under a barrage of rose attacks from ten sunspots overhead.

 _Burning Mandela_ and _Ice Bubbles Freez_ e rushed in from either side of her, incinerating and freezing the oncoming rose petals in their tracks.

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists as Mercury and Mars stepped in front of her.

“Keep it together,” she muttered, trying to center herself. _I am not out of this yet._

“Neptune?” Mars asked.

“This street’s clear,” Neptune said, looking up at the sunspots, who were preparing another volley of attacks overhead. She raised her fist. “Let’s finish them.” And she held her hand aloft, pulling together a _Deep Submerge_ that flew up towards the sunspots from the right while Mars sent a _Flame Sniper_ at them from the left. An explosion of steam hissed overhead as eleven shards of crystal fell onto the asphalt.

“They’re following the civilians,” Mercury said. “They haven’t realized we’re grouping them together at the tower yet.”

“Too bad they don’t know the area,” Mars said.

“Let’s keep on them from the roofs,” Neptune shouted and leaped up onto the closest one. She stumbled as she landed, and Mars caught her by the arm.

“Are you sure you’re –”

“Fine,” Neptune snapped and shook her head. She was only tired. She could stem tiredness.

In the distance, she spotted Saturn racing across another set of buildings. She was a block from the TV tower. “Let’s go,” she told the others, leading the way along the roofs.

Venus and Moon were flying over the civilians heads when they arrived, blocking attacks as the sunspots flew at random around the massive crowd, trying to draw the senshi away from each other. They spanned out on the roofs along the square, taking out sunspots before they could launch their attacks.

“Don’t move,” Venus ordered through the communicators as she flew close enough to the roof Neptune, Mars, and Mercury stood on to block an attack if necessary. Thank goodness it seemed the sunspots attacks took a while to charge. “Chibi Moon: get to the top of the tower.”

“Saturn will meet you there,” Pluto added.

Chibi Moon was already running across the roof Sailor Moon had left her standing on. She leaped and landed three-quarters of the way up the tower where she rolled through a broken window. She sought out the stairs and ran up the rest of the way.

The top was now the observation deck (the roof, a warped and twisted mess on the ground somewhere below). Chibi Moon pushed past the people huddled on the stairs and grinned as Saturn somersaulted onto the tile floor from a broken window across the room.

“I need your help!” Saturn said. “It has to be really big!”

“Okay,” Chibi Moon said, putting her hands over Saturn’s on the glaive.

They shouted together (the first words that came to mind). _Pink Silence Wall_ echoed off the top of the tower as a shield of pink and black lightning ballooned out from it. It created a shield over the center of Tokyo that forced the sunspots out of the square and covered the whole area a block out in all directions.

The senshi on the surrounding buildings and flying over the square grinned as the shield incinerated many of the sunspots who’d taken damage, while those who remained circled around it.

“Take that,” Jupiter said, standing just outside the shield. She sent a _Supreme Thunder_ shooting out of the hammer. The green lightning arced up around the Silence Wall and crashed into Aqua Rhapsody, electrocuting all the sunspots who hovered too close to the shield.

“Chibi Moon, Saturn: how long can the two of you hold that?” Venus asked as the sunspots began throwing attacks at the Silence Wall.

 _“Don’t know,”_ Saturn shouted back through Chibi Moon’s communicator.

The Senshi gathered on the roof where Neptune, Mars, and Mercury stood. Uranus and Pluto immediately ran to Neptune’s side as the others joined in a circle with them.

Mercury scanned the sky overhead with her visor. “We still have 211 remaining,” she said. The Senshi’s shoulders slumped.

“They’re already flying away,” Jupiter scowled. “They can just pick a new target – there’s plenty of populated places in Juuban.

“Or in other parts of Tokyo,” Venus said. “We need to contain them here, and defeat them.

“Sailor Planet attack doesn’t have the range for that,” Mercury worried, “Not on its own. And we’d be putting the city in danger with it.”

“The crystal points could do it,” Pluto said. “Any sunspot caught too close to the shield could be killed instantly.”

“And we could manage the rest,” Venus nodded, hand on her sword.

“We only have two points completed, though,” Mercury worried.

Sailor Moon stepped into the middle of the circle. “Then I’ll finish them.”

“But we haven’t even started two of them,” Mercury said. “You’d need to be at the location to start both.”

“Or we need something that could channel the Silver Crystal’s power!” Venus realized, drawing her sword. “Artemis told me – this helped grow the Moon’s Obelisk once,”

“She’s right,” Sailor Moon said to Venus. “If she has that, we can finish the points.”

“Will you have enough power to finish the final three?” Mars worried.

“I’ll have to,” Sailor Moon said. “And I’ll need all of you to help.”

“If they notice what we’re doing,” Uranus said. “The Crystal Points will be their new targets.”

“Then we need to distract them as long as we can,” Venus said. “Sailor Moon, you and Chibi Moon will go to the Chess tower,” her eyes glanced around the group of them. “Neptune and Uranus, go with them.”

“Wait,” Neptune said. “Uranus should go with you,” she said to Venus. “If this fails, we can spread the Talismans around Juuban. They’d be our next most powerful shield.

“If you can maintain it,” Pluto whispered to her.

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Okay,” Venus nodded. “Uranus and I will go to the ice cream shop. The rest of you,” she nodded to Pluto, Jupiter, and Mars. “Keep them distracted.”

“You got it,” Jupiter said, smacking the hammer against her hand.

“Saturn, Chibi Moon,” Venus said into her communicator, “We’re going to get the civilians into the buildings. Hold that shield until all the sunspots have flown off.

_“Okay!”_

It took the combined efforts of the inner senshi to move the civilians off the streets. While they did, Pluto retreated behind the Time Doors, seeking out parts of the city that might see damage tonight, trying to predict the sunspots movements.

From the roofs, Neptune gazed into the mirror, tracking the sunspots in real time as they flew out to other parts of Juuban, intent on dividing the Senshi.

“We’ve been at this for two hours,” Uranus murmured in Neptune’s ear, wrapping her arms around her. “Are you okay?”

Neptune sighed, leaning back against Uranus, staring up at the pink and black shield over their heads. “I’m managing,” she confided. “I can hang on until we need to power up the Crystal Points.”

As the last of the civilians sought cover in the buildings, Sailor Moon and Venus leaped up onto the roof, Chibi Moon and Mercury with them.

Neptune turned in Uranus arms, and Uranus put a hand under her chin, tilting her head up to give her one more kiss.

“Be careful,” she murmured.

“No promises,” Neptune answered back, she squeezed Uranus hands in hers before they parted, teleporting away with Moon and Venus to the final two Crystal Points.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Sailor Moon landed them in the chess tower. Neptune, Mercury, and Chibi Moon watched her step into the center and hold her hands out before her. Neptune saw Chibi Moon shiver and put her hands on the young senshi’s shoulders as the Silver Crystal flew out of the locket on Sailor Moon’s chest.

“Venus,” Sailor Moon said as the Silver Crystal began to glow. “Are you ready?”

Uranus stood to the side as Venus knelt behind the counter of the ice cream parlor, the tip of her sword stabbed through the tile floor. “Ready,” Venus whispered.

And at once, the sword began to glow with the brilliant light of the Silver Crystal’s power.

Across Juuban, at the Supermarket, the point they’d barely started the night before also began to glow and grow slowly taller. Pluto checked in there, moving the pyramid of boxes stacked atop it with one swing of the Garnet Rod.

This would work. She’d seen that clearly enough. But whether Sailor Moon would have enough power left to help defeat the remaining sunspots was something she couldn’t determine.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Saturn had borrowed Chibi Moon’s communicator before she left, and while the pink watch felt strangely fitted on her wrist, it was still a comfort as she ran through Juuban’s streets, coordinating with Mars, Jupiter ,and Pluto in an effort to keep the Sunspots away from the Crystal Points.

She wished she could fly like Jupiter, or just warp through space like Pluto could with the doors. But at least the Silence Glaive seemed to do a decent job of slowing the sunspots down. She would vault up into the air and, if she timed it right, slice through two or even three. But they could fly fast – much faster than she’d been prepared for, and their new mix of attacks kept her constantly off balance.

 _I wish I’d been there for more of the fights._ She scowled as she took out one sunspot with a Silence Glaive Surprise, it had taken three other attacks to completely finish it off.

They did have an advantage, though, as Mars had pointed out. They knew Juuban far better than the sunspots did and used it to their advantage. Saturn would seek them out; their energy was an easy thing to find even if they flew far over her head. Once she had the attention of a group of them, she’d let them give chase, leading them through the streets while dodging their attacks and trying to hit them with her own. She’d lead them right to Mars, or Pluto, or Jupiter and let a combined attack finish them off.

Mars guessed they had cut the sunspots numbers in half by the time their plan finally failed. There were still too many for only four of them to corral, and in their haste to defend a densely populated shopping plaza from one large group, another had flown too close to the chess tower, and seen the light inside.

“They’re headed our way,” Neptune told Mercury and Chibi Moon when she got the message from Mars. Mercury sprinted out of the tower. “Guard Sailor Moon,” she called to Neptune and Chibi Moon.

 _“I’m sending Saturn to you,”_ Pluto informed Neptune. She appeared behind Saturn with the Time Doors and transported her to the chess tower in seconds. Saturn had a Silence Wall up a moment later, in time to meet the oncoming sunspots. Mercury stood just outside of it, freezing many of the sunspots before they could hit the Silence Wall.

“Where’s Neptune,” Pluto asked.

“Inside,” Mercury said. “She’s helping me target them.” Mercury tapped her communicator.”

 _“You’ll want to put up the fog,”_ Neptune’s voice came through. _“You’re getting weaker ones from the southeast and a cluster of stronger ones from the north.”_

“How is she?” Pluto asked. She sent Dead Scream up to waylay some of their attackers.

“Fine,” Mercury told her. Saturn frowned as she added: “she’s tiring.”

“What’s going on?” Saturn asked.

Pluto sighed. “We’ll tell you both later.” She stepped back through the doors. “I’ll check back soon.”

Mercury nodded, “We’re almost done.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Inside the Chess Tower, though, Chibi Moon and Neptune looked on as Sailor Moon’s arms began to shake.

“Her strength’s fading fast,” Neptune said, looking up from the Aqua Mirror. The sunspots around the tower had dwindled once Jupiter arrived to distract them from above, and the Crystal Point had grown to the height of Sailor Moon’s waist

But the completed two had been taller than her by a head, and as the minutes wore on, she looked worse and worse for wear.

“Maybe she doesn’t finish them now, after all,” Chibi Moon whispered.

Neptune looked at the mirror in her hand. She’d gained some of her strength back since the heavy fighting at the TV tower, but only some.

 _It’ll have to be enough,_ she decided, when at last Sailor Moon’s strength gave way. She fell to her knees on the tower floor. Neptune and Chibi Moon dashed to her side and Neptune put a hand on her shoulders.

“You need to stop,” Neptune murmured to her, “Save what you’ve got left for defeating them.”

Sailor Moon jerked her head to the side and continued staring towards the Crystal Point. The Silver Crystal still glowed in her trembling hands. “I’m almost done,”

“You’re using too much energy,” Neptune said. “You need to stop.” She put her hands over Sailor Moon’s until she lowered her arms. She sagged forwards as the Silver Crystal returned to its spot in her chest.

Then Sailor Moon pounded one fist against the floor. “I could do it.”

“You’d already used a lot of power tonight: save your strength,” Neptune consoled her. She looked out towards the Silence Wall and the attacks hitting it near constantly outside. “You’re going to need it.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Across the city, Venus' heart sank as the silver light imbued within her sword dimmed until all the power had been sapped from it. She cried out, slamming one of her fists into the ground.

“She couldn’t do it,” Venus said, bowing her head over the pommel of the sword.

Uranus knelt at her side and put a hand on her shoulder. “Then it’s the three of us,” Uranus said, she spoke into her communicator. “Pluto – are you ready?”

“I’m at the supermarket,” Pluto said. “This shield won’t trap all of them.”

“It’ll have to do.” Uranus sighed. “Neptune?”

“I’ll make it last as long as I have to,” Neptune replied.

Venus hung her head and saw Uranus' white boots move closer to the unfinished Crystal point. She saw the yellow glow of the Space Sword as Uranus raised it over her head, preparing to be their last line of defense. “Damn it,” Venus cursed.

She was about to stand, knowing she’d be needed in the air as soon as they had contained the sunspots when the sword in her hand grew hot once more. She felt again, the strength of the Silver Crystal, the feeling of its energy fresher and more powerful than before. Venus gasped as the power rushed through her. _This isn’t Sailor Moon’s._ The sword under her hands filled with light once more – this time a soft, pink hue.

On the other side of Juuban, Pluto stepped back from the unfinished Crystal Point at the supermarket as it shone the same, brilliant pink.

“You weren’t meant to have a hand in these,” she murmured, fists tightening around the Garnet Rod.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Chibi Moon looked at the crystal point, ears full of the sounds of fires, whirlwinds, and explosions as the sunspots continued to fly unhindered over Juuban. The crystal point was so close to complete.

She watched Neptune stand, lifting the Aqua Mirror. Her face was drawn and pale, the shadows under her eyes a clear sight that she was tiring.

 _Will they be able to hold the Talisman shield long enough?_ Chibi Moon thought, looking at the crystal point again.  _I could leave them unfinished… and then I’d know nothing had changed. Maybe we really weren’t meant to complete them today…_

 _But we need them,_ Chibi Moon decided, pushing past Sailor Moon and Neptune. _I don’t care what I remember; we need them now._

She waved her hand before the locket on her own chest, letting her own crystal fly out.

_I have Sailor Moon’s powers too._

“I can finish this!” she said. _“Pink Moon Crystal Power!”_

_~Á Suivre~_


	16. Hope of Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALE OF ARC ONE AHEAD! I hope you’re as excited as I am! Information about Arc 2 is at the end of the chapter.  
> the chapter title comes from the same-named song by Icon For Hire and it is amazing and I listened to it alot while writing this whole fic.
> 
> Please leave a review if you liked the first part. It would be really encouraging for me as I set about writing the second bit of this and Sailor Moon H (we all know the middle of the story is the worst part).
> 
> Also gh, I hope you like this. I also havent heard from you in over a week so I hope you have not been ousted from AO3 again (or that nothing has happened to you - stay well and enjoy this finale my friend.

**Hope of Morning**

Sailor Mars held _Flame Sniper_ notched on its bow string, eyes narrowed as she waited, crouched on a rooftop, as the gleam of Jupiter’s hammer and the multi-coloured lights that followed her drew closer.

She held her arm steady – waiting, waiting – until Jupiter was just five feet from her. She saw the lightning rod extend from Jupiter’s tiara and loosed the arrow the moment the first flash of electricity cracked towards it.

 _Supreme Thunder_ shot from Jupiter’s palm, merging with Mars’ arrow seconds before it exploded amid a crowd of the sunspots.

Mars stood, scanning the skies for more of the Sunspots. She and Jupiter’d been attempting to distract them from the chess tower and it seemed they had, at last, dwindled down the number of sunspots in range of it. She could see more of their lights encroaching on them, but far more were flying well-coordinated routes through Juuban’s skies. Their lights flashed as they flew along the streets and weaved between the buildings.  _They noticed we weren’t all at the chess tower_ , Mars realized as Jupiter landed beside her. “They’re looking for the other crystal points,” she told Jupiter.

“Good they’ll be distracted a while,” Jupiter grinned. “What are we down to 100?”

“Hard to say,” Mars sighed. “They’re so spread out that number would still take us all day, it seems like they never get tired.”

Mars trained her eyes to the south – a fresh wave of sunspots was making their way to the chess tower. “Let's,” she began to say, and then froze, eyes wide, as she whipped around.

Jupiter frowned when Mars lowered her hands to her sides, eyes on the _Silence Wall_ still surrounding the chess tower.

“Mars?”

“They’re reacting,” Mars whispered, pointing to the chess tower.

And Jupiter’s gaze was drawn to it as a bright, column of pink light shot up towards the sky from the obelisk’s location.

The same colored light sprang up in her peripheral vision. Jupiter whirled around and whooped. “The Shrine!”

A column of pink energy had risen up from Hikawa’s finished crystal point as well, and, as they looked around the roof, from the final three locations.

“They’re almost done,” Mars whispered. “But wait… this isn’t Sailor Moon.”

“No,” Jupiter breathed, “No way: _Chibi Moon_ is doing this?” She frowned. “Does that work with her being from the future?”

“I don’t know,” Mars said, taking note of the sunspots: they’d just abandoned their street-by-street scan of Juuban and were diving towards the five columns.

“Well, they know where we are now,” Jupiter scowled, swinging her hammer. “We need to get over there.”

“I’ll head for Hikawa,” Mars said, loosing a _Flame Sniper_ at five sunspots who shot over her head, she damaged three. But they all kept flying. “Damn it.”

“Come on,” Jupiter said, holding the hand that held her hammer out to Mars. “I’ll drop you off,”

Mars grabbed the handle without a single snap about her skepticism in Jupiter’s approach to flight. The two of them rocketed up into the air so fast Mars felt as though a wind tunnel surrounded her. Her stomach rolled as they leveled out high above the sunspots and jerked quickly to the north.

“This is not flying,” she shouted at Jupiter over the wind, turning and sending Snake Fire shooting down into some of the sunspots they raced past.

Jupiter glanced over at her and smirked. “You kidding? This is flying with style.”

Mars shrieked as they suddenly dove down towards the right, narrowly missing a flame of black fire. “I should have run there.”

Jupiter snorted. “Yeah right.” She gathered a ball of lightning in her free hand and let it loose on the myriad of sunspots they overtook on their way to the shrine. “Don’t worry,” Jupiter teased, “You’ll get your normal ride back later.”

As practical and un-nerving as it seemed to Mars, Jupiter flew much faster than Venus. They were circling over Hikawa barely a minute later, and Mars let go of the hammer, dropping down into one of the trees as Jupiter changed course towards the bakery.

The dozen sunspots currently at the shrine, all circling the beam of pink light emanating from the crystal point, hadn’t noticed her yet.

She stood up on the branch, summoning _Flame Sniper’_ s bow and arrow. If she could just distract them until the other points were done…

The trees around Hikawa were all close enough that if she timed it right, she could run around the perimeter, sending arrows at the sunspots from various locations faster than they could track her.

Mars smirked when her first shot struck clean through a green-centered sunspot. _I actually might have a little fun_ , she thought as she ran around the northern crystal point

Minutes later, just outside Juuban, in a neighboring district of Minato Ward, Jupiter dropped down onto the roof of her shop just to the left of the eastern crystal point’s beam of pink light. She slammed the hammer down and a pulse of lightning rippled out around her. The attack sent the sunspots scattering.

The sunspots returned fire – sending a cluster of thorns shooting towards her. Jupiter had lifted her hammer to parry when a group of lights – bright white and twinkling like stars – zipped past her, scattering the thorn attack and circling around the sunspots, trapping them. She grinned and sent _Oak Evolution_ racing towards their enemies. The attack exploded within the cluster of sunspots, reducing their number by two and doing visible damage to the others as their shadow bodies contacted the small stars still zipping around them. The remaining sunspots shot a dark energy blast at the starlight attack, snuffing it out. They raced upwards into the sky, joining five of their counterparts as they regrouped.

Jupiter glanced down towards the roof and smiled softly. She wondered if Nephrite would hear her. “Thank you,” she whispered as she gathered the lightning for another attack. “Stay away from the windows – these things are smarter than they look.”

All the way across Juuban from Jupiter, Sailor Uranus stood in front of the southwestern crystal point as a group of sunspots so thick she couldn’t see the individuals raced over her head. With Venus' sword still in use, Uranus was the only one at hand to defend.

 _"Space TURBULENCE_ " Uranus shouted, launching her most powerful attack them as they shot attacks at the Bob-Floy ice cream parlor. Her attack created five cyclones that sucked all the sunspots in before crashing together, tearing apart the three weakest and leaving the others’ sizes diminished, but they were no less able to attack. She dove away from a whirlwind of roses and scowled when she noted only two had turned to attack her.

The others were solely focused on the ice cream shop, the roof of which was already ablaze. They sent everything from their dark energy blasts to their water cyclones down to bombard it. Shingles were blasted or torn from the roof with every shot as the pink beam of energy blazed on.

The last Uranus'd heard, Chibi Moon had taken over completing the points. Sailor Moon was weakened from her own efforts, and while Saturn's defense was strong, Mercury was having to do most of the work cutting down on the number of their attackers. Neptune was holding on, but even over the communicator, she’d sounded like she was tiring.

Uranus glanced towards the light beam from the southeast. She hadn't heard anything from Pluto. But it was a sure enough thing that she was guarding the supermarket alone.

Around the supermarket’s light beam, she could make out only the multi-colored lights of many sunspots. They were clustered far too close together to count.

 _I'll get to you as soon as I can,_ Uranus thought, preparing another attack. _Both of you._

At that southeastern point, where 21 of the sunspots had clustered, Pluto did not have the luxury of looking in on the others. She knew their locations. She could feel the strength of Small Lady's power in the crystal point and felt sure she could complete them so long as their defenses held. She knew that their battle had just ebbed into its fourth hour.

Pluto winced as another volley of attacks slammed into the outsides of her shield. She'd thrown the shield up after recovering from the roof of the supermarket caving in on her, along with one of the walls. The sunspots had taken her by surprise – she’d been so focused on attempting to see if they would cause damage at the other points that she’d hadn’t looked right away for her own. By the time she’d crawled out from under the wood and plaster they’d already formed a near-complete dome over the crystal point, and the beam of pink light emanating from it had been flickering. She had dove right through them, shivering as her skin contacted their freezing shadows, and cast _Garnet Ball_

She kept her eyes on the crystal point, rather than look at her shaking arms as they kept the Garnet Orb hovering aloft. She could only guess how many sunspots surrounded her, for she could not see them, not in the bright light of the crystal point and certainly not in the future. More than anything, she desperately wished to see if they could win. _I don’t even need to know_ _how,_ she thought as four water cyclones buffeted the sides of her shield. _Only if there's hope._

 _Just have faith,_ Mars and Neptune thought back to her, the fatigue they felt clear even in their thoughts.

Pluto closed her eyes and took a deep breath, standing a little straighter.

 _Chibi Moon can do it,_ she thought. _She's got the power to and,_ Pluto smiled to herself. _She's too stubborn not to._

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Sailor Moon stood at the doors of the chess tower, halfway between the battle outside and Chibi Moon. She kept her eyes closed, concentrating on her power.  
It had to be enough. She flexed her fingers. She'd been this tired in battle before and had still managed...

She furrowed her brows and raised her hand, smiling as the scepter reformed in her grasp. She twirled it once.

"Wait," Neptune told her from her position near the doors. She'd been circling just outside, throwing attacks through the _Silence Wall_. "We're going to need you if there's any left after the shield forms."

Moon sighed. "I know." She tightened her hands around the scepter as she watched Neptune throw a _Deep Submerge_ at the sunspots... half the size the attack was normally.

"You're tired too," Sailor Moon told her.

"We're all tired," Neptune replied. "I can hold out as long as there's still enemies to hit."

Sailor Moon glanced towards Mercury, who'd forced another group of sunspots to crash into the _Silence Wall_ and then crushed them with _Aqua Rhapsody_.

 _But their tiredness isn’t affecting their attacks like yours,_ Sailor Moon worried. _I hope you don’t push yourself too hard._

But she would. Like any of them would. Neptune would fight to her last breath.

And Neptune would fight in place of them rather than with them. Like Venus would. Like Pluto would. Like even she, herself would. They'd all fought alone before they'd ever had a team. And Moon recognized the same instinct in Neptune, and the other two as she did in herself – the urge to stand in front of their fellow senshi rather than beside them never truly went away.

As her thoughts moved to worries over what might be affecting Neptune, Moon saw the light from the crystal point fading and turned toward it.

Chibi Moon was stepping away from the crystal column, returning the pink moon crystal to its brooch. Her hands and knees shook as she stared at the crystal point, now glowing with its own soft, silver and pink light.

"I did it." Chibi Moon rasped. She looked up as Sailor Moon put her arms around her shoulders.

"You did." she smiled, raising her communicator. "Everyone, let's activate them."

_"Right!"_

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Mars flipped through the air as the tree she'd been aiming for exploded, sticks and splinters shooting towards her. She rolled as she landed, ducking to dodge a blast of dark energy.

The lights around Hikawa were off and the sunspot had chased her to the dark side of the shrine, away from the blazing pink light of the crystal point.

Mars readied a _Flame Sniper_ at the fully powered sunspot as it recharged for another attack. This time she could see black flames gathering at the center of it, burning from the orange light that shown brightly from its center.

Mars held the arrow still as a chill ran up her spine. She recognized that color. "Sirius," she whispered.

When the name left her lips, the sunspot spot froze. Then the black flames retreated into its shadow form. The orange glow within it was even clearer now: the impossibly small shard of a star seed.

"It is you," Mars said. But she gasped and dove away as Sirius' sunspot launched a dark energy blast at her.

"Sirius stop!" she shouted. She dismissed _Flame Sniper_ and held up her hands. "Sailor Sirius," she said clearly. "This isn’t your purpose. This isn’t your power.”

She looked overhead, spotting the same-named star in the sky.

"Remember what you fought for," she whispered, flinching as another energy blast formed in front of the sunspot. "Remember what you died to protect..."

The orange light within the sunspot grew larger and brighter as she spoke, nearly eclipsing the shadow body that all the sunspots had. _Sirius isn’t strong enough to control the dark energy on their own_ , Mars realized. _They need help!_

"Remember who you are!" Mars conjured her oldest attack to her hand. " _Evil Spirits Disperse!"_

She launched the piece of paper with a flick of her wrist, breathless as she watched it contact the shadow.

Then it ignited and Mars grinned as the shadow energy dispersed, leaving an orange shard of crystal behind. It began to dim and fall. Mars dove for it, curling her hand around it before it could hit the ground.

"I did it," she gasped, breathing hard as she stared at the crystal shard in her hand, as neutralized as any they hit with a joint attack... or any that Sailor Moon or Venus had ever vanquished alone.

 _They responded to their name,_ she realized _. If I could learn more of them..._

She noticed the grounds darkening and looked towards the crystal point. The pink beam of light was fading away.

Mars ran around the side of the shrine, sighing in relief when she saw the pillar still glowing softly. _It’s complete,_ she realized. _All it needs now is the rest of our powers._

" _Everyone,_ " Sailor Moon’s voice said through her communicator " _Let’s activate them."_

"Right!" Mars answered back, gripping Sirius crystal carefully. _I wish we could restore you,_ she thought. _But once we protect our home, we can at least try to find the rest of you._

She put her palm on the Crystal Point. _“Mars Crystal Power!”_ she shouted, watching her own magic fill the crystal point. Its light shot up into the air over Juuban, lighting up the northern point bright red and joining the rainbow of colors from four other points: green in the east, garnet in the southeast, orange and yellow in the southwest, and aqua and blue from the western point. As they activated, the shield of black and purple lightning dropped from around the western point as the senshi dashed inside to add her own power to the shield.

Over Juuban, the sunspots who had been ambushing the crystal points dove at them with renewed urgency, throwing every attack in their arsenal, including those borrowed from Sol’s planets, down on the crystal points and the senshi. Water cyclones tore through the walls of the Bob-Floy ice cream parlor, attacks of starlight worked double time to keep fires from igniting in Kino’s bakery, and the supermarket in southeast Juuban was already a pile of smoldering rubble around its crystal point.

But the attacks could do nothing to the activated crystal points, or the senshi who guarded them. Water cyclones fell apart upon contact with them, attacks of flame extinguished, whirlwinds of thorns and roses dissolved. Even the attacks of dark energy seemed to pass right through them.

All of this was seen and felt by the entity watching through its sunspots’ eyes. It hissed as one was incinerated after diving into the orange and yellow senshi, burnt up by their power.

It was so much power. It could feel the damn pillars of starlight – imbued with so much energy that they burned like the ordered realm's pathetic stars. _Don’t touch them!_ it ordered its legions of lights. Then it focused its attention on the red guardian as its sunspots hovered close to the crystal point.

She had _turned_ one of its lights! All the others had simply returned to it when Sol’s successors had defeated them, but this one still burned with a spark of power. _This one_ was resisting its call.

Because of the red guardian.

 _How did you learn its name?_ It considered the red one, who’s powerful energy it could still feel. Had she found a way to contact its lights?

 _Impossible,_ it decided. They no longer thought in the mortal sense. They could not even use the powers they’d had from their blasted stars.

It sought the red one’s magic. What it had stolen was not even enough to make the passage back into the ordered realm. And passage into its realm was not a power of the stars. Yet somehow Sol’s successor had gotten through. If she could reach it here...

 _Yes,_ the power it had taken from her had formed a connection, it followed it back towards the red guardian. Perhaps it still had a chance to acquire the rest of her power.

And if it defeated them, it would have enough power to return to the ordered realm, and it could take Sol now as planned, with no need to wait for the star's cycle to reach a vulnerable day.

 _Release my starlight_ , it hissed to the red guardian. _Cease this!_ It sent a surge of dark energy racing along their connection, slipping between dimensions, from its realm back into Sol’s…

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Saturn dropped the Silence Wall the moment the aqua and blue beams of light shot up into the air over the chess tower, twining together as they stretched into the night sky. She ran into the building as the sunspots converged on them and fell on the floor as a blast of dark energy hit her in the back.

“Saturn!” Neptune shouted as she and Mercury looked away from the crystal pillar. Saturn saw Chibi Moon and Sailor Moon run to her. Chibi Moon launched a Freezing Heartache at the doors, killing the closest sunspots, and Sailor Moon slammed the door shut on the rest. It was thick and mostly metal: they’d have a harder time breaching it or the rest of this stone building than some of the other crystal points.

Saturn pushed herself to her feet using the Silence Glaive as support, stepped towards the crystal point, intent on adding her power to complete their shield, and gasped.

“Stop!” she shouted, staring at Neptune. She whipped the Silence Glaive down, pointing it at her mother. “Get away from it!”

“Saturn!” the others gasped, Neptune’s eyes were wide, but she kept her hand on the crystal point.

“Saturn what is this?” Neptune whispered.

“Now I know why you’ve been tired and sick so much – you’re not yourself.” She looked around at the other three. “I thought your energy was strange before. And I can feel why now – it's not yours. And now it's stronger than it was last time!”

“Hotaru,” Neptune said patiently, holding up one hand. “I’m still myself… there’s a reason my energy is strange right now, but I don’t have time to explain – I can still use my power.”

“But what if it sabotages the shield?”

“It won’t,” Neptune tried to placate her.

Just then, Mercury gasped, eyes darting through a stream of data on her visor. “Hikawa’s gone down!”

“Mars!” Moon and Chibi Moon gasped.

“We can handle things here,” Neptune told them, eyes still on Saturn, who had lowered the Silence Glaive but was still staring at her. “Go with them.”

“No!” Saturn shouted. The rest of them stared.

Neptune narrowed her eyes, directing a stern look at her. “ _Hotaru._ ”

“I’m not leaving!” Saturn shouted. “There’s something wrong – you feel like you’re possessed!”

She was expecting the gasps from around the room. She was not expecting her mother’s reaction.

Neptune _laughed_ – so suddenly that she bent forwards, hand over her stomach as she gasped, trying to regain her composure. She shook her head, biting her lip as she straightened up. “If only it were that simple,” she muttered as Hotaru and the others frowned. She looked back at Hotaru. “I’m not possessed – and I will explain as soon as Juuban is safe.” She pointed towards Moon and Chibi Moon. “Go with them – we can’t protect Juuban unless all the points are activated.”

Saturn nodded stiffly, looking at Chibi Moon only when she grabbed her hand.

“We need to teleport there,” Sailor Moon said, fists clenched. “Rei…”

“I can help,” Chibi Moon said, holding out her other hand to Sailor Moon. The crystal points had weakened her, but it was a fraction of the work Sailor Moon had done. The three of them formed a circle together in the middle of the chess tower.

Saturn turned around as they combined their energy to make the jump. Neptune and Mercury were focused on the crystal point. She watched a sunspot crash through the roof and slam right into them, dissolving upon contact with their glowing aqua and blue forms.

Neptune’s light was weaker than Mercury’s, the aqua beam of her magic a fraction of the other. Most of her remaining power was focused inwards, towards the strange blue-green aura that radiated from the center of her – clearly stealing her energy.

Then in a flash, the three of them had teleported away and were on Hikawa’s grounds.

“Mars!” Sailor Moon shouted, and Saturn looked to her right.

Mars was collapsed on the ground, covered in a black aura of power while the sunspots all over the shrine shot blast after blast of dark energy down at her.

“STOP!” Sailor Moon shouted, whipping out her scepter. _“Starlight Honeymoon Therapy KISS!”_

The attack exploded out of the scepter, hitting and dissolving every sunspot that surrounded Mars. The three of them ran to her.

“Mars.” Sailor Moon whimpered, dropping to her knees beside her and lifting her up. Her tiara had faded and the Martian symbol on her forehead was blazing.

 _“Someone needs to activate Hikawa’s point,”_ Luna’s voice said through the communicators. Saturn and Chibi Moon looked towards it as Sailor Moon shook Mars. The silver and pink light within the crystal point was dim, even as its counterparts across the city blazed.

 _If they leave Juuban this will be useless,_ Saturn thought, watching a fresh round of Sunspots dive towards Hikawa, most of them focused on the crystal point. She sprinted across the grounds. _And the longer we have to power these, the more power Mama has to use._

She put her hand on the crystal point as the sunspots launched attacks of searing rose petals at her back. But they were too late. _“Saturn Crystal Power!”_

The purple beam of light shot into the air, joining the four other beams. All of them began to arc towards each other, slowly drawing together over the center of Juuban.

Chibi Moon watched them with one eye, the other was focused on Sailor Moon. She was focused solely on Mars, supporting her with an arm around her back. She had one hand clasped in Mars' free one. Mars' other hand, Chibi Moon noted, was clutched to her chest, closed tightly around a crystal shard.

Her face looked strained: eyebrows furrowed and eyes clenched shut. She was grimacing.

“Mars!” Sailor Moon shouted. “Wake up.” She bent forwards, pressing her forehead to Mars'. “There’s dark energy all around her,” Sailor Moon said, her voice softened. “We can fight this,” she whispered. Chibi Moon could see her crescent moon glowing. “Come back… come back…”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

_The darkness was more total than it had ever been, all the lights scattered through it had gone. She could see a few pinpricks peaking through the darkness – weakened. Nothing like the strong lights that had surrounded her before._

_She whirled around as she heard the screech, and then the hissing that echoed out of the dark. She felt something terribly cold traveling around her – the snake – she could only see it by the faint symbols glowing on its coils and followed it as it traveled closer, closer._

_Sirius symbol glowed brightly along its underbelly as it rose up in front of her. And as her red symbol flared to life on its forehead and its eye sockets she saw, in the bright light, its fangs looming down towards her._

_“Give back my light!” it shrieked, and she screamed as its freezing coils trapped her legs, its jaws looming closer. “Cease this futile fighting.”_

_She clenched her fists, staring it down even as its jaws widened enough to swallow her. “No!”_

_She braced her arms over her head as it dove at her, closing its jaws around her._

_She felt her power draining away from her, as it had two months ago, and grasped it firmly, dragging it back. She curled up within the crippling darkness, now totally devoid of light, just as its temperature felt like the complete absence of heat._

_“You will not win,” its voice shrieked all around her, she tucked her head towards her chest and tried to cover her ears, but the voice boomed as terribly as before. “You have none of her tricks!”_

_She struggled to grasp her power as it slipped away from her, out into the darkness. What was this place?_

_I need to get out, she thought, squinting in the dark. There was no depth to this place, no direction, no gravity. She could have been floating or falling or flying and she would not have known. She certainly wasn’t on the ground. There was nothing solid beneath her feet._

_“Give me that power, and you may leave…”_

_“No!” she shouted, though she was trembling, she looked all around but there was nothing near her. No light to head towards no…_

_“Come back,” a voice whispered in her ears. A kind, commanding, familiar voice. “Come back, Mars.”_

_Mars… she felt her hold on her power strengthen as another light, similar to hers flared up in her chest. She straightened up, closing her eyes to the darkness. There was light here, in her mind. She could see._

_“Come back.”_

_Her hand was warm, clasped in someone else’s. The same someone who had a protective arm around her back, who’s light she could see in her mind._

_“WHAT!”_

_“I won’t give up,” Mars said. “My power doesn’t belong here.” And she strained towards the light – white and pink and silver – a dear friend’s._

_“Sailor Moon…”_

Mars gasped, launching forwards and banging her head against something quite hard.

“Ouch!” Sailor Moon shouted, hand moving from Mars back to rub her forehead. But she was grinning at her, even as Mars clutched Sirius crystal closer to her, pressing her fist over her pounding heart.

_Where did I go?_

“You’re okay!” Sailor Moon shouted, falling towards her. She cinched both arms tightly around Mars.

Mars sighed, hugging Sailor Moon back with one arm as she leaned her head against the other senshi’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

“What happened?” Chibi Moon whispered where she stood near them, fending off the sunspots surrounding them.  
“I… I don’t know,” Mars gaze fell on the crystal point over Sailor Moon’s shoulder; a beam of Saturn’s purple power was shooting out of it, arcing towards the middle of Juuban.

She stood, and Sailor Moon along with her. They needed her power. “I’m okay,” she said, pulling away from Sailor Moon as she approached the crystal point. There was still this left to do. She stepped up beside Saturn and put her palm to the crystal once more.

Her power was as bright as ever within her. _“Mars Crystal Power!”_

The red beam of light burst into the sky, twining around the purple as it arced into the center of Juuban and joined with the seven other lights.

And with all of their energies now combined (Sailor Moon’s and Chibi Moon’s still lingering within the crystal points) the shield glittered into being. The arcs of light spanned out towards each other from the ground up. They began thinning and merging as an iridescent bubble began to rise towards the place in the sky where all the lights met.

The crystal points were complete.

All the scouts stepped away from their crystal points as the shield rose, burning up any sunspot who hovered too close. The others rushed towards the middle of Juuban, intent on escaping the barrier of light.

As it rose towards the sky, the sunspots collectively shrieked. And the scouts watched as all of them – dark shadows against the bright light of the shield – shot up towards the top, intent on escape.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Venus shouted, drawing her sword and unfolding her wings. She shot up into the sky, racing after the sunspots towards the top of the shield, which the barrier of light was still straining towards.

Sailor Moon saw Venus from the ground and summoned her scepter as she too shot up into the sky. I need to help her, she thought. I need more power.

Across Juuban, the scouts closed their eyes as their tiaras faded. The symbols of their planets glowed on their foreheads as they summoned power to send to Sailor Moon.

She flashed red as she soared up into the air, then green, orange, and garnet. She flashed yellow as she chased the sunspots and blue, aqua, and purple as she approached Venus. When Chibi Moon’s rush of magic filled her and she blazed with the power of all her fellow senshi, she was level with Venus. The two of them stopped when they saw the top of the barrier close ahead of the mass of sunspots, several of whom stopped just short of slamming into it.

“Let’s finish them,” Venus commanded, drawing her sword as Sailor Moon raised her scepter. They floated side-by-side, and the ancient blade crossed with the sparkling new Moon scepter as the orange and white of their powers glowed together in the night sky.

_“Moonlight Lovely Blast!”_

_“Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!”_

The twin pulses of light shot out of their weapons, engulfing the remaining sunspots and incinerating all who remained trapped between the senshi and the top of the dome.

Sailor Moon fell back as the last of her power left her. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she de-transformed into Usagi amid a burst of pink ribbon and feathers. She plummeted, wings gone, and Venus sheathed her sword as she dove after her, scooping up Usagi and hovering them both in the air.

“What am I gonna do with you,” Venus muttered, shaking her head as she adjusted her hold on Usagi. She looked down towards the city. The crystal shield was fading now, the danger was gone. Venus looked down at the shrine. She could just make out the three figures clustered around the crystal point.

And she could see something small floating up into the air. Her sharp eyes identified the shard of crystal glowing orange in the middle.

A sunspot’s crystal. They’d never moved once they’d been defeated before.

She held Usagi close as she watched the orange shard shoot upwards, towards the others still hovering in the air. _They always fell before,_ Venus realized. _Why’s it different now?_

As she approached she could see not all of them remained, but most did, clusters of shards in every color were hovering in the air. And, she realized as she got closer, they were clustering together by color.

Her eyes focused on the orange ones as she drew level with the clusters of crystal. She watched the shard from Hikawa rise up to meet them and her eyes widened as they all rushed together, pulsing a bright orange as the shards reformed into a whole crystal.

“Oh my,” she whispered and was paralyzed by the rush of euphoria and pain that filled her – the absolute relief of being whole again, the agony of having been shattered. She shivered, clutching Usagi closer as she gaped at the reformed crystal.

 _I can feel them…_ she realized. All around her, the other shards had reformed too.  _These are all the sunspots made from each sailor crystal._ The light of the orange crystal was coalescing into a shape around it – a large silhouette. _We’ve never fought a group of entirely the same color before, we’ve never collected all the shards in one place…_

The silhouette that had emerged from the crystal blinked open their four eyes and combed their hair away from the small horns on their head. The shock that they felt mirrored all the other silhouettes around Venus (and the joy, and rage, and the trauma). Venus was shaking from the intensity of all of them.

 _"They’re whole!"_ Mars thought to her, opening up their connection. She felt tired and frazzled and full of the triumph of a battle well won. Venus held her feelings close, trying to focus on them, not on…

“Sol,” Sirius orange silhouette whispered; their long-fingered hand reached out for Venus and Usagi. “You have so many faces…”

“I’m not…” Venus breathed, gasping as she took in the ghosts around her. “You’re alive.”

“No,” Sirius answered. “I don’t think so.” They raised their translucent hand to their head as all four of their eyes widened. “I remember…” they met Venus shocked gaze with their own. “Tell Mars… tell Mars, my name was –” suddenly Sirius gasped, their voice cut off as their silhouette stiffened, the light that comprised them rippling.

 _“No!”_ Venus shouted, diving towards Sirius as a shock of terror slammed into her from every sunspot around them.

She saw the spot of darkness at the heart of Sirius star seed just in time to stop short, reeling back and turning slightly away, shielding Usagi who was still passed out in her arms.

She looked over her shoulder at Sirius and then all around at the other, nameless, ghosts as darkness sucked the light out of their star seeds, and then from their silhouettes. They screamed as they were wrenched away, the darkness swallowing up their star seeds too before winking out of existence.

Venus trembled as she held Usagi to her, turning round and round in the empty night. She yearned suddenly to feel all of their emotions again, no matter how difficult they had been to feel.

At the very end, she hadn’t felt anything from them at all.

 _"Come down,"_ Mars thought to her. " _We’ll figure out what just happened later."_

“I know what just happened,” Venus whispered, knowing Mars could hear her as she began to circle down towards the city. “I… talked… to them. They’re _alive._ ”

_"Sirius did say…"_

“They said they didn’t think so,” Venus argued, approaching Hikawa. “But they’re whole.” She grinned. “We could save them.” And then laughed. “It wouldn’t have any power at all of we could just…”

 _"I know…"_ Mars said. " _I hope we can too."_

 _“I think it's high time for a nap,_ ” Jupiter’s voice said through the communicator.

“And a meeting,” Venus said.

 _“We can meet at the Penthouse,”_ Uranus said. _“Everywhere else will be hounded by cameras as soon as the roads are cleared up.”_

 _“Before that even,”_ Pluto added.

“Then let’s meet there,” Venus said smiling as she saw Rei standing beside Hotaru and Chibiusa on the shrine's grounds.

She looked for her car and groaned. The Ferrari was exactly where she’d left it early in the evening: parked on the side of the road below Hikawa just outside the bounds of the bus stop. And it wouldn’t be moving anytime soon: the sunspots attacks had turned the once shining machine into a warped and smoking ruin.

 _Gonna need another ride,_ Venus thought as she soared down the block, trying to ignore the sudden grief that beset her at the sight of her car. What did it really matter in the grand scheme of things?  _Just one more piece of normalcy I’m not allowed to have._

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Mercury opened her eyes as Sailor Moon absorbed part of her power, just in time to see Neptune sway, as she donated the last of her strength to Sailor Moon’s endeavor. Mercury was at her side in a single stride, supporting her as she de-transformed into Michiru and collapsed towards Mercury.

“I’m okay,” Michiru murmured as Mercury lowered them both to the ground. She leaned Michiru back against the crystal pillar as they looked up through the now broken roof towards Moon and Venus chasing the sunspots high overhead. “I overdid it a bit.”

“More than a bit,” Mercury commented, kneeling beside her. She switched her visor over from tracking the sunspots to completing a medical scan. “You’re energy’s severely…”

Michiru looked up at Mercury through heavy eyelids as the senshi's voice trailed off. She turned her gaze away from the data on her visor and towards Michiru. Her hand lifted slowly up to her ear and, with a tap of her earring, the visor between them was gone. Her blue eyes were very wide. “You’re…”

Michiru nodded, smirking as her eyes drifted shut. “As I said – being possessed would be much, much simpler.” She frowned and reached out, squeezing Mercury’s arm. “Is she alright?”

“She…” Mercury breathed, stunned as she stared at Michiru. After a few minutes, Michiru squeezed her arm again. “She’s fine,” Mercury hastened to say, still reeling from the information she’d just uncovered. “She’s uh, drawing heavily on your energy right now – which is probably why your power’s severely depleted.”

“Already a troublemaker then,” Michiru said as she saw a bright flash of white and orange through her closed eyelids.

“How long have you known?” Mercury asked, not even looking to see if Venus and Moon had won.

“Surprised you aren’t asking how this happened in the first place,” Michiru chuckled. She sighed. “This morning,” she whispered, voice growing softer. “Well... yesterday morning...”

Mercury saw Michiru’s head nod forwards as she passed out against the crystal pillar. Her body listed to the side. Mercury put her hands on Michiru's shoulders, guiding her down so that her head was pillowed on Mercury’s lap. She put a hand on Michiru’s shoulder and tapped her earring with the other, summoning her visor back. She paid no mind to the battle coming to a close overhead as she focused on Michiru, trying to recall as much of the information from her mother's books as she could, and from all the textbooks she’d read ahead in.

She only glanced outside as the crystal point dimmed, and the shield around Juuban faded.

Now, with the battle at a close, and the adrenaline, at last, ebbing away, Mercury could feel her own fatigue. It weighed heavily on her limbs and made her head feel dizzy. She focused on ignoring the feeling, and the urge to de-transform as she squeezed Michiru’s shoulder, scanning around for any sorts of unexpected people or beings who might find them here. They would need to wait for someone to come get them – either with the time doors or a car.

 _I will protect her until then,_ Mercury thought.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Pluto stood as the orange and white lights flared high over Juuban, eradicating the sunspots. She leaned heavily on the Garnet Rod. Her ankle was making it quite clear that she’d been injured when the roof collapsed.

She summoned the time doors, ignoring the pain in her ankle as she walked stiffly through them. She couldn’t de-transform yet. She needed to get to Bob-Floy ice cream parlor.

Michiru was fine, had assured her of it mere moments ago. But Haruka, she had not heard from in hours. She moved the time doors through space, opening them onto the road and the view of the ruins where Bob-Floy had stood hours before. In the center of the wrecked frame of the shop, the crystal pillar was blazing as it maintained the shield. One tall person stood beside it, gazing up towards the two figures very high overhead.

“Haruka!” Pluto called. She grinned as Haruka whirled around and sprinted to her. She'd crossed the road in seconds and then clasped Pluto's gloved hand as she leaned in and kissed her.

“Hey – woah!” Haruka said as Pluto stumbled. She de-transformed in a flash of garnet ribbons. Haruka already had her arms around Setsuna, holding her steady as her eyes looked Setsuna up and down. She winced when she noted Setsuna’s ankle. “That hurt?”

“No,” Setsuna scoffed, trying to reach for her power. They still needed the Time Doors. “Hang on – I’ll transform again. We need to get to Michiru,”

“Easy,” Haruka said, pulling one of Setsuna’s arms around her shoulders. The light from the shield was fading now, the need for it now gone. Haruka eyed the bruises already forming on Setsuna’s left ankle. “You’re too tired – it's alright.”

“But we need to reach her.”

“Is she in danger?”

“No,” Setsuna assured her. “I just – the press will know the crystal points.”

Her worrying was cut off by their communicators beeping to life.

 _“I think it's high time for a nap,_ ” Jupiter said.

 _“And a meeting,”_ Venus added.

“We can meet at the Penthouse,” Haruka said into her communicator. “Everywhere else will be hounded by cameras as soon as the roads are cleared up.”

“Before that even,” Setsuna added tiredly.

 _“Then let’s meet there,”_ Venus decided. _“As soon as you can.”_

“I need to get the Time Doors,” Setsuna insisted, though she felt far too tired to so much as hold the Garnet Rod.

“No we don’t,” Haruka insisted. “You just defended a crystal point by yourself, you don’t have the strength. Hell,” she shook her head. “I don’t have anything left.” She pointed out the dark high rises exactly three and a half blocks from them. “Look – home’s right there. We can take the helicopter to get her.”

With the chopper, it would take 15.3 minutes to reach the chess tower... still two minutes before the cameras would make it there. They’d catch them flying home. But that was all. “Okay,” Setsuna sighed, leaning into Haruka’s embrace and attempting a step forward. But Haruka held fast to her waist.

“You are not walking there in heels,” Haruka chuckled.

“I am perfectly capable of it,” Setsuna huffed.

“And you’ll hate yourself in about five steps – here.” And Haruka knelt in front of her, putting Setsuna’s hands on her shoulders so she would stay balanced as she helped her ease the heels off her feet. Setsuna winced when she had to stand on her injured ankle to remove her right shoe.

“Better than walking all the way there,” Haruka said standing up and resettling Setsuna’s arm around her shoulders. And, with Setsuna’s shoes in her free hand, she supported them both the three and a half blocks home.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Rei was already halfway down Hikawa’s steps with Hotaru and Chibiusa when the car Mina had hotwired screeched to a halt at the foot of the stairs. The driver’s side door was thrown open and Mina raced out and up the steps, grabbing Rei and crushing her close as she breathed in the smell of her hair.

“What happened?” she asked. “Hikawa was down for five minutes… I couldn’t reach you at all.”

“Later,” Rei whispered to you. “I really don’t want to talk about it just yet.”

Mina sighed. “Okay,” she said begrudgingly and had to stand on her tip-toes to kiss Rei as she was standing on the step above her.

They broke apart when Hotaru cleared her throat. “Can we go now?” she begged.

“Of course,” Mina said, leading the way towards the stolen car. “Oh: Chibiusa, Hotaru.”

“Yeah?”

“You kicked ass today.”

“Language,” Rei murmured.

Mina chuckled. “Usagi’s asleep in the back,” Mina said to Chibiusa.

Chibiusa grinned, “Thanks, Mina,” she said, rushing to the door of the car once she reached the last step and scrambling inside to check on Usagi.

Hotaru hung back, watching as Mina wrapped her arm around Rei's waist and held her close. She walking behind the two of them as they went down the stairs. “Something’s wrong with Mama,” Hotaru whispered.

Mina sighed. “Nothing’s wrong,” she assured Hotaru. “She’ll explain – I promise,”

Hotaru sighed, pouting as they reached the car, “Okay,” she said, holding the door open so that Mina could help Rei inside.

In the back, Chibiusa’d curled up in the middle seat, looking at her hands as she leaned into Usagi (who was snoring against the window).

Chibiusa felt… _scared_. Mina decided. _Scared and determined…_

Or rather: Chibiusa felt like her mother whenever Usagi was about to do something stupid. Heroic, perhaps, but stupid.

“What’s up?” she asked Chibiusa as Hotaru climbed into the back seat feeling:  _annoyed, exhausted, snappy, relieved, angsty… teenager._

Chibiusa didn’t even glance at her. She only shrugged. “Nothing.”

Minako frowned. That is a big fat lie. Moon Princesses and “nothing,” in her experience, always equaled a whole lot of friggin something.

But she didn’t call Chibiusa on it. _Tomorrow,_ Mina decided. _When I can think straight._ She threw the car into gear and grasped Rei’s hand, squeezing it.

“Don’t worry,” Mina said. “We’re going to meet the others now.”

_~AgeofAquarius~_

When Setsuna pushed open the door to the Penthouse, Nephrite and Makoto were already there. Nephrite waved at them from the living room then looked back down at Makoto who was spread across the couch, with her head pillowed on his thigh. She raised her hand and waved a little when the four of them came in – Haruka carrying Michiru, and Ami supporting Setsuna.

“How did you get here before us?” Ami asked.

“Flew,” Makoto said, lifting the hammer off the floor beside her. “Hammer’s good for that even if I’m running on fumes, apparently.” Makoto lifted her head. “I can get up.”

“Stay,” Setsuna reassured her.

“Have a nap,” Haruka suggested, glancing at the clock over the television and groaning. The battle had started at 8:21, yet it was somehow already 1:29 in the morning. “Or if it's not uncomfortable, just stay the night.”

“It's definitely not uncomfortable,” Makoto yawned, settling her head back against Nephrite’s thigh and smiling when he began to comb his fingers through her hair.

“Then stay,” Haruka said over her shoulder as she made her way towards the bedroom. She nudged the door open with her foot when they got there and settled Michiru down on top of the covers.

“Sure Michiru’s alright?” Haruka asked Ami, who’d just helped Setsuna sit down on the other side of the bed.

“She’ll be fine,” Ami assured her. “I’m actually amazed she lasted until the end of the battle given how much energy she’s using for… uh.”

Setsuna and Haruka both glanced at each other and then at Ami.

“All you had to do was a medical scan, right?” Setsuna whispered as Haruka reached into the top drawer of her bedside table, pulling out the first aid kit.

“Um, yes,” Ami whispered.

Setsuna sighed. “I am an _idiot_.”

“Hey now,” Haruka said sternly, putting her hand on Setsuna’s shoulder as she walked around their side of the bed. “Up until last week, there was nothing medically wrong with her – why would you have ever thought it was anything, but magical.”

“It was also far more likely something much more obscure would affect her than…” Ami frowned. “Um... how exactly did this happen?”

“It happened because I was the idiot,” Haruka joked, noticing Ami had taken Setsuna’s ankle in her hands and was examining it. Haruka frowned. It was swelling badly. “What’s the verdict?”

“Grade two sprain, I believe,” Ami said. “Makoto got one of these once – she took a week or so to heal.”

Setsuna sighed. “I need to be on my feet before that.”

“Don’t stress over it,” Haruka urged her. “Something tells me they’ll need a while to regroup after today and besides – we all need a few days to rest.” Then Haruka smiled at Ami, clapping her on the shoulder and holding up the first aid kit. “I’ve got it – you go nap or something.”

"If you're sure,” Ami said, standing up.

"I am.” And Haruka hugged her. "Thank you for taking care of them," she whispered.

Ami left then, in search of caffeine. As she was closing their bedroom door behind her, Haruka knelt and took the bandages out of the first aid kit.

Setsuna closed her eyes as Haruka wound the bandages around her ankle, her hands as steady from long practice as any doctor's from formal training. Setsuna began blinking her eyes heavily, struggling to keep them open. She'd used more of her power in the past 24 hours than she had at any point besides the two instances she had stopped time.  _How is it I could stay transformed within the time dimension for so long and yet one battle here exhausts me? I’ve fought countless of them there… I was surely stronger than this_. Setsuna sighed. _Why are they all a blur?_

"There," Haruka murmured, “We have that brace floating around here somewhere too.”

"Huh?"

"Good as new," Haruka smiled at her. She leaned up and kissed Setsuna soundly, then pulled away, brushing Setsuna’s hair out of her face as she gazed at her. Setsuna leaned into the hand cupping her cheek.

When Haruka chuckled softly, she realized her eyes were shut and jerked them open again. Haruka was still gazing at her.

"You're tired," Haruka said as she stood up.

"Mhmm not," Setsuna shook her head. There was still a lot to sort out. Most immediately: they needed to debrief. "Mina will be here in 15... 14 minutes." Setsuna yawned. "I can..."

"Take a nap. Everyone else is going to,” Haruka said. “We can debrief in a few hours.”

Setsuna closed her eyes as Haruka leaned in and kissed her forehead.

There were so many things she should be doing: overseeing the press attitudes, checking their futures after such a tough battle... particularly Rei's... and she could at least try examining the consequences of Chibiusa’s intervention…

"I’m not even psychic and I can hear you thinking," Haruka joked in a soft voice. "Whatever it is can wait until you rest." She sat down next to Setsuna, putting one arm around her.

Setsuna sighed, sinking into Haruka. Technically she had been awake 24 hours longer than the rest of them if she counted the Time Dimension. She snuggled closer to Haruka – she could hear her heartbeat if she listened carefully.

Then Haruka began to hum, the same tune she used to use to sing Hotaru to sleep. Setsuna couldn’t help letting the melody carry her away.

When Haruka was sure Setsuna’d drifted off, she stood, guiding Setsuna’s head down onto the pillows and lifting her legs up onto the mattress. She sat down on the edge of the bed, watching as Michiru rolled closer to them. Haruka reached out to put her hand over the one Michiru’d rested on her pillow, and smiled when Michiru turned her hand to clasp Haruka’s. She leaned back against the headboard, but didn’t sleep, mind too full of other things.

Haruka only moved from her spot when she heard the front door bang open, and Hotaru’s feet running down the hall. Then she released Michiru’s hand and walked around the other side of the bed, holding her finger to her lips as their kid burst through the bedroom door.Hotaru was panting and looked like she was about to shout. But she nodded to Haruka and padded on quick, quiet feet into the room. Hotaru crashed right into her, and Haruka picked her up and held her close as Hotaru clung to her.

“What’s wrong with Mama?” Hotaru whispered.

Haruka shook her head. "Nothing,” she promised. She looked into the hallway and saw Rei push open Mina’s door, making room for her to walk in carrying Usagi and balancing a napping Chibiusa on her shoulders.

A minute later, they both shuffled out into the hall. Mina glanced at her and mouthed: “coffee?”

Haruka nodded, turning her attention back to Hotaru, “Nothing’s wrong at all,” she promised Hotaru. “She’ll tell you everything once she wakes up.”

Hotaru sighed: the long suffered sigh that let Haruka know she had less and less of a child on her hands and more and more of a teenager. _I am not ready to parent a teenager._ Haruka scowled. She discovered (as she kept doing and kept ignoring) that Hotaru no longer fit in her arms very well.

Though she could still, easily fall asleep there, Haruka mused, when she realized a few minutes later why Hotaru was no longer asking questions.

Haruka considered moving her to her own room but dismissed the idea. The kid had been dying to see them too much of late. and she really didn't need to walk to two different rooms to check on them all. Instead, Haruka knelt on her bed and leaned over Michiru, settling Hotaru between her and Setsuna. Haruka bit her lip to stifle her laughter as Hotaru moved – too purposefully to be truly asleep – so that she could rest her head on Michiru’s shoulder, and so that both her legs were sprawled out across Setsuna’s.

She padded out of the room after a few minutes of staring, loath to leave but needing caffeine _badly_. She found Mina in the kitchen with Ami and Rei. They already had a mug of coffee waiting for her.

The digital clock on the microwave said: 02:07

“I’m not sleeping,” Mina said, passing Haruka her coffee and then lifting her own large mug and blowing on the steam that rose off the top. “It’s too late to sleep.”

“Is it?” Rei asked her.

“If I want to watch the sunrise it is,” Mina said. “Which I do – it’ll make me feel better.”

“And me,” Ami added. “And I feel like I’ve too much in my head right now to sleep.”

Haruka nodded, rubbing her eyes and taking a sip of her own coffee, not even noticing how hot it was. “Come on,” she said to them. “Our balcony has a sunrise view.” Not the best one of course – that was from Mina’s balcony. But she didn’t care to be even that far from her family right now.

She led the way back to Michiru's, Setsuna's, and her room, pointing the three inner senshi towards the balcony doors. Ami opened so carefully even Haruka could barely hear them. She left the bedroom door open in case anyone else in the house awoke, and then made her way out onto the balcony.

Ami was leaning back against the railing, and Mina and Rei had curled up on the loveseat. Haruka sat down in the doorway, one eye on the three people sleeping in her bed as she leaned back against the doorframe.

“What happened at Hikawa?” Ami whispered.

All of them looked towards Rei.

Rei took a sip of her coffee, snuggling closer to Mina as they watched the still dark sky and the few stars visible under the city lights. It was hardly peaceful – the sirens of emergency vehicles and the whir of the defense forces helicopters echoed from all over Juuban.

“It was like my dreams,” Rei confided in them. “Only much realer.” She shivered, and fell into the discussion – first of her recent dreams and visions and then of the attack that had incapacitated her that night.

Haruka tightened her hold on her coffee mug as Rei continued. _Why is it we can’t even win without this thing being one step ahead?_ she thought.

_~AgeofAquarius~_

Amazingly enough, it was Usagi who woke first, as the sky shifted from black to a deep lavender outside Mina’s east-facing balcony. Usagi blinked her eyes open in the unfamiliar bedroom and heard the sounds of conversation drifting in from outside. She yawned and sat up, lifting a still dozing Chibiusa and wandering out of her room. She noticed the door at the end of the hall - into the master bedroom - was wide open, as well as the door to its balcony. Haruka and Ami were both leaning over the railing.

She made her way out to them, yawning, and plopped down on one of two free chairs beside the loveseat, joining the others as they gazed at the lightening sky.

Makoto trailed out with Nephrite as the sky became slightly periwinkle and the lower hanging clouds took on a pink hue. The both of them leaned over the railing, and Mina and Rei moved from the loveseat to join them, Mina clasped Makoto’s hand and Ami shifted closer to them. She and Rei turned around, holding out their arms to Usagi.

Usagi sat up, glancing at Chibiusa who was now awake (barely), but Chibiusa shook her head, snuggling back into the cushion on the chair.

Usagi slid between Rei and Ami and put an arm around each of them, leaning her head on Ami’s shoulder.

The sun had just crested the horizon over the bay when they heard two new sets of footsteps making their way outside. Haruka turned, returning Michiru and Setsuna’s smiles as the two of them shuffled out onto the balcony, Setsuna leaning heavily on Michiru. It was a bit awkward given how much shorter Michiru was. Haruka stepped away from the balcony to help, transferring Setsuna’s arm from Michiru’s shoulders to her own and leading the three of them back to the railing.

Michiru snuggled close to her on the left, wrapping both arms around Haruka as Setsuna leaned her head against Haruka on the right.

“Look at all the damage,” Michiru worried, taking in the destruction that the sunrise illuminated all over Juuban.

They could see no flames, but the ever more distinguishable plumes of smoke rising into the sky clearly spoke to fires still burning, though the sirens of the emergency vehicles had long since abetted. Now all that lingered over Juuban was an eerie quiet, with not even a seagull to disrupt the silence.

“This is a bad idea,” Michiru whispered, looking out towards the dark shadows of the ruined buildings that stood out prominently against the brightness of the rising sun. “I can’t just… ignore this enemy.”

“Of course you can,” Haruka rushed to say. “Michiru, every decision in our lives could be a bad one – living in the middle of Tokyo with so many people around, being in the orchestra, continuing to race,”

“Shopping,” Setsuna murmured. “Sending Hotaru and Chibiusa to public school.”

“Going to university,” Ami added from across the balcony, Makoto, Nephrite, Rei, and Usagi all frowned at her. “If they ever found me, the other students could get hurt – but I can’t let that stop me from living.”

“Even going out in public at all,” Mina hastened to add, leaning further over the balcony to look at Michiru who was shockingly easy to read at the moment – all the better. “Stop feeling guilty!” Mina said to her. “We’ve never put our lives on hold for an enemy before, and you’re not going to now. Not for something you want so much!”

“What’s going on?” Rei whispered, trading glances with Usagi, Nephrite, and Makoto, but all of them shrugged and shook their heads.

“Mamoru certainly hasn’t stopped living his life,” Nephrite added. “He feels guilty for being away,”

“For sure he does,” Usagi added, straining to see Michiru and biting her lip when she noticed her head was bowed turned completely towards Haruka and Setsuna. Was she crying? “Every time I talk to him he’s worried that it’s wrong for him to be so far away, not helping us fight here. But I tell him every time – he can’t put his dreams on hold. Otherwise, there’d be nothing to fight for.”

“It’s different for Mamoru,” Michiru said. “He isn’t a senshi… I was integral to the fight today. What if I hadn’t made it to the end, or gotten hurt in the middle, that… has tended to unravel my transformation.” She closed her hands into fists. “And it’s only going to get worse.”

“How do you know it’ll get worse?” Makoto whispered. “You figured out what’s wrong?”

Haruka, Setsuna, Ami, and Minako all chorused at the same time: “There’s nothing wrong.”

“Of course there’s something wrong!” Michiru snapped at them. “It’s the wrong time. This is a terrible, terrible time to do this. It would be selfish, and I would be putting all of you at risk because there will be a point where I can’t fight,” she looked out towards the bay and the deep red that painted the horizon. “Last night was a testament to that.”

“But it will be much less dangerous now,” Ami said. “Juuban is safe – and I’m improving my detection program every day. They won’t be able to surprise us much longer.”

“And don’t you remember how long it took even the first of them to get here,” Haruka added. “We just killed over 200 of them – who knows how long it will take them to get back.”

“A while, I believe,” Rei added. “Certainly time to prepare for whatever they’ve got next.”

“I can still go back and,” Setsuna began to say.

“No!” Michiru snapped and groaned, leaning over the railing and putting her head in her hands.

Mina pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to stifle the urge to cry that was crashing into her from Michiru.

“I don’t want you to,” Michiru added, voice cracking. “You should, but I don’t want you to.”

Setsuna sighed. “You’re not being selfish,” she insisted, reaching out and squeezing Michiru’s arm.

“She’s right,” Usagi said, pulling away from Ami and Rei and walking across the balcony so she was on Michiru’s other side. “Whatever’s going on – it's not selfish to want... whatever it is.” Despite her encouragement, Michiru continued to shake her head. Usagi's voice grew firmer. “It isn’t – because we support each other.” She said, looking at all of them. “Something you want is something we all want – especially with an enemy around.” She put her hand over Michiru’s and the older senshi turned to look at her, not crying be decidedly glassy-eyed. “That’s why we’re a team,” Usagi told her. “So we can live our lives and still protect the Earth - together.”

“Mama’s right,” Chibiusa said, startling Michiru by squeezing between her and Usagi and hugging her around the waist. “And you can’t let the enemy decide what you do with your life,” Chibiusa insisted. Michiru looked between Chibiusa and Usagi, then at Setsuna and Haruka and the others. “Doesn’t that mean it wins anyways?" Chibiusa asked. "If it stops us from being happy?”

“Yeah!” Mina added, “You told me not to let my parents get in the way of my happiness.” She was bolstered by the renewed confidence radiating out of Michiru. “Don’t let the enemy get in the way of yours.”

Michiru nodded and pinched the bridge of her nose, turning away from the sunrise and towards Haruka and Setsuna, who both held their hands out to her.

“You can do it,” Haruka insisted again.

“We’ll all handle the enemy,” Setsuna whispered. “A few battles without you won’t matter.”

“Yeah,” Usagi said, putting her hand over theirs. “I mean…I still don’t know what’s going on,” she said sheepishly, “But I’m gonna support you.”

“And so will I,” Ami added. Setsuna making room for her as she joined their semi-circle. She put her hand over Usagi’s “Statistically speaking we can almost certainly handle a fair number of battles without you.”

“And I’m in too,” Makoto added.

“And me,” Nephrite said.

“And me,” Rei said, as all three of them joined the circle.

Mina flew over the side of the balcony, hovering just on the other side so that she could face Michiru. She put her hand over everyone else’s and met Michiru's watery eyes.

“Please,” Mina begged. “You feel so happy whenever you stop thinking about the enemy and consider this.” She sniffed. “Please keep her.”

As Michiru put her hand over the others, they all realized what Mina had said, and Usagi, Makoto, Nephrite, and Rei snapped their heads towards Mina.  _“Her?”_

“Is that what’s wrong?” Hotaru’s voice interrupted them all as she stepped out onto the balcony. “Did I here right?” she asked. “Her – the person who's been stealing your energy.”

“What?” Rei asked as they all turned towards Hotaru.

“What’s going on?” Hotaru asked them all.

As all of them glanced at each other. Makoto’s eyes widened as she put the puzzle together on her own. Setsuna stepped forwards, favoring her left leg. “What do you think is going on, Hotaru?” she whispered. “Trust your powers.”

Hotaru frowned and closed her eyes, brows furrowing. “I thought you were possessed,” she said, pointing at Michiru. “But you said that’s not right.”

“Not exactly,” Mina muttered and Haruka reached over the balcony to punch her on the arm.

“But I don’t understand what else it could be,” Hotaru said.

“Why?” Setsuna asked.

“Because there’s eleven of us here,” Hotaru said, looking around at all of them and then back at Michiru. “But I feel twelve star seeds.”

“And can you tell which one is the star seed you don’t recognize?” Setsuna asked.

“Uhuh,” Hotaru said, still frowning as she gazed at Michiru, who was staring at her. “It’s why it was hard to notice at first. It’s really small,” she said. “It’s super bright, though – that’s why I was confused, I thought a sunspot was following you.”

“But this doesn’t feel like a sunspot... right?” Haruka prompted her.

“No,” Hotaru shook her head. “The sunspots all feel a little dark. This one doesn’t. And it… it feels familiar,” she considered. “But completely different from any I’ve ever seen before – Mama?” she asked, stepping towards Michiru. “Are you crying?”

“You caught me,” Michiru whispered, voice cracking. She opened her arms to Hotaru who stepped into them immediately. “I’m jealous I can’t see her like you can.” And then she looked at everyone else, noticing the understanding on Makoto’s and Rei’s faces and the hope on Usagi’s. “There are 12,” she whispered, comforted by Setsuna and Haruka’s hands on her shoulders. “I’m pregnant.”

The balcony was engulfed by silence as Hotaru stepped back, gaping at her along with Rei and Chibiusa and Makoto and.

“YOU ARE!” Usagi squealed, pushing past Haruka and Setsuna and grabbing Michiru’s upper arms as she bounced on her toes in front of her. “Really? Really!”

“Yes,” Michiru whispered. “That’s why its such a bad time, because this enemy,”

“ _Fuck the enemy!_ ” Usagi cried, startling all present when she swore. “This. Is. So. Exciting!” She wrapped her arms around Michiru, laughing as she grinned. “Oh!” She pulled back so she could look at Michiru. “Of course you can keep her! There’s nothing selfish about that.”

“Absolutely not!” Makoto cheered, putting her arms around both of them. “Actually this would be a really great way to flip the bird to this apocalyptic psycho lizard.”

“I agree!” Mina shouted, hovering behind them.

“You see,” Setsuna whispered she and Haruka joining the group hug on Michiru’s other side. “You can do this if you want.”

“We’re all with you,” Haruka added, making room for Ami as Mina beckoned Rei to her side.

Most of them were crying, Mina noticed, especially Michiru as she looked around at all of them, huddled close, the grin on her face matching the joy that was overflowing from her, overshadowing even her doubts about the enemy and their future battles.

“Alright,” Michiru whispered. “I’ll do it.”

“YES!” Mina and Usagi shrieked. They clasped hands as they jumped up and down until Mina’s wings beat fast enough that they both rose into the air.

“This is going to be awesome!” Mina declared. “I am going to be the best aunt.”

“Oh nuh-uh! I am going to be the best,” Usagi declared, sticking her tongue out at Mina.

“Uh, excuse me,” Makoto said, leaning over the railing towards them. “But which one of us can make the best cookies here. Oh! That’s right,” she pointed at herself, grinning. “Me. I’m definitely going to be her favorite.”

“How do you know it’s a girl exactly?” Ami asked. “You can’t be that far along.”

“Oh yeah?” Usagi realized, turning away from Mina and frowning towards the outer senshi. “How did you guys even... do this?”

Michiru laughed, and the musical sound was worth all the overly curious glances Haruka got when Michiru elbowed her in the ribs. She was a blushing, stuttering mess as she attempted to explain, Setsuna and Michiru laughing all the while. Still... it was so, so worth it.

Outside the cluster of excited young adults, Hotaru and Chibiusa held hands as they watched the celebration with trepidation and confusion.

 _They’re having a real kid,_ Hotaru worried. _Does that… what does that mean for me?_ “They’re so happy,” she whispered aloud. “They’re having a real kid.”

“Yeah,” Chibiusa said, squeezing her hand. She didn’t consider the implications of Hotaru’s words.

Her mind was reeling for other reasons.

 _They could have hidden it from you,_ she thought. _But why would they?_ Chibiusa looked down at her free hand and clenched her fist just to make sure it was solid. Everything was still fine, right? Sure, they’d finished the crystal points well before Chibiusa thought they’d been made, but the future was still on track... _Right?_

She was starting to doubt it. And starting to doubt, doubting it.

 _They’re all so happy,_ she thought, looking at her mother and at Setsuna and at all the senshi. _They deserve to be this happy._

But all the reasons she wanted to be excited along with them did nothing to help her ignore the facts. There had been no Sailor Neptune in her future, nor a Sailor Uranus, nor a Chibi Neptune.

 _They could have lived outside Crystal Tokyo, but why?_ Chibiusa thought. _All their friends are here._ She swallowed the lump in her throat.  _Either something bad happens… or the future – my future – is changing._

“Chibiusa!” Usagi said, running up to her. “Isn’t this exciting!”

“Yeah!” Chibiusa exclaimed, putting a grin on her face.

Either something bad would happen, or her future was changing.

And she decided (as she fell into a debate with Usagi about whether the baby would be her aunt or her niece) exactly which one it must be.

 _Nothing bad’s going to happen,_ Chibiusa thought. _Even if it does change things, I want them to be happy._

She looked out at the sun, now bright white and hovering in the sky just over the horizon line as its reflection sparkled beautifully against the sea.

She was stuck in the past, unbeknownst to anyone but Pluto, and with no indication of when the time key would work again.

 _I’ll make the most of it then,_ Chibiusa decided. _If this enemy’s already changing things then I’m going to make sure the future is happy – happier._

After all, she decided as she watched the sun, all it could do was make her future brighter.

_~Á Bientôt~_

Age of Aquarius will return with **Arc 2** on **October 31st**.

In the meantime, check out the second story in my SM/HP crossover: **Sailor Moon H: Half-Blood Prince**  


End file.
